Australian youth unemployment reaches crisis point

Youth unemployment in Australia has hit a crisis point, with jobless rate reaching 21 percent in some key hotspots of the country, according to an analysis of the latest official figures released on Monday by welfare group Brotherhood of St Laurence.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence says its analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 at an alarming 12.2 percent across Australia in the year to January, up from 8.8 percent in 2008.

The organization says its snapshot reveals youth unemployment rate in some parts of Australia including Cairns in far north Queensland, west and north-west Tasmania, and northern Adelaide has topped 20 percent.

Brotherhood of St Laurence Executive Director Tony Nicholson said the data showed a crisis that Australians could not afford to ignore.

"It's a disaster for our young people who want to work but are getting locked out of the workforce and locked into welfare dependency because they have no choice," he said in a statement on Monday.

"It's a disaster for communities, leading to more homelessness and despair for young people and their families."

Nicholson said these young people were at risk of never being able to get a position in the world of work.

"And in our modern economy that means that they're really being sentenced to a lifetime of poverty," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.