The highest rates of unemployment since 1979 were in the early 1990s when they peaked at 10.9%.
After that, they fell to a 35-year low of 4.2% in 2008, immediately before the Global Financial Crisis
(GFC). Following the GFC, the rate increased to 6.1% in 2014 (Figure 2.2.1). Youth unemployment
followed similar trends to overall unemployment though young Australians have been particularly
affected by unemployment with an average unemployment rate of 13.3% for 15–24 year olds in
2014. The gap between the youth unemployment rate and the overall unemployment rate was
greatest in the early 1990s (8.6 percentage points higher than the overall rate) and lowest in 2008 at
4.6 percentage points higher.
At the start of the 1980s and the 1990s the overall unemployment rate increased rapidly then declined.
During these periods, youth unemployment tended to increase faster than overall unemployment,
leading to an increasing gap in the rates. This gap then declined as the overall unemployment rate
declined. The gap between youth and overall unemployment also increased following the GFC as overall
unemployment increased, and has continued to increase. In 2014 the gap reached 7.2 percentage points,
more than 1.6 times the gap in 2008 (Figure 2.2.1) (see Chapter 4 ‘Transitions to independence’).