Mothers hunt jobs

STAY-at-home mums are being forced by rising costs to give up their lifestyles and head back to the job queue.

 

The result is the Bligh Government, despite its claim it has created 60,000 jobs since it was elected, now has an extra

16,800 people on the unemployed list and nearly all of them are women.

 

In March last year when Ms Bligh was elected on a promise of creating 100,000 jobs, there were 114,100 Queenslanders unemployed. There are now 130,900.

 

Over the same timeframe, an extra 16,000 women are listed as unemployed.

 

Job placement experts said there were three factors at work – a bigger population, more people looking for work and a decrease in jobs traditionally favoured by women in retail

and hospitality.

 

But they also claim the economy is fractured into the haves and have nots and there is a risk of losing a generation of young people to permanent unemployment, with some areas of

outer Brisbane reporting a quarter of 15 to 19-year-olds who are not at school are unemployed.

 

Russo Recruitment’s, Denise Love said mothers were being forced to return to work partly because of the global financial crisis but also because everyday items were becoming too expensive for one income.

 

‘‘Some people are finding it very tough and single-income families are being forced to become double-income,’’ she said.

 

PVS Workfind’s Darrell Hewton said Queensland economic drivers, like mining, were male-dominated and focused on skills, which meant a large number of women and unskilled people were left to scramble for what was left.

 

Mission Australia’s Lynton Hopper said there had been a dramatic increase in people asking for help because they couldn’t pay their bills.