At Republic Resumes, about 50 per cent of my clients are 30 years and under. Many come from Adelaide, Wollongong and south Sydney. Full time employment wasn’t looking that good for young people before Covid-19. Now it’s dire.

A recent Productivity Commission report – there should be a National Employment Commission – found people in their 20s and early 30s, who take low quality jobs (because that’s all they could get), may get stuck on the crap job merry-go-round.

Young people have suffered the largest increases in unemployment – and the biggest falls in jobs – since the pandemic started.

In June, the jobless rate for 20-24 year old job seekers soared to 13.9 per cent, with almost 150,000 jobs vanishing since the start of the year.

The commission’s research, which focused on the decade following the global financial crisis, found during this period young people had poorer job outcomes.

Wage growth for those under 34 almost halved after the GFC and actually fell for several years after 2012. For those 35 and older, wage growth slowed but was never negative.

While there has been strong total jobs growth over the past decade, for young people this has been mostly in part-time positions. Between 2008 and 2014, full-time employment for those aged between 20 and 34 fell.

Many young workers could face long-term consequences in the form of occupations lower on the jobs ladder and lower salaries than they might have expected in the early part of the century.

The fact that the weak labour market lasted for a decade means that many young workers will face long-term scarring.

Young people need to use every weapon in their job-hunting armoury, including a crack resume.