Why young Tasmanians who move to the mainland might be better off

Georgia Whitehead could not find a well-paying job in Tasmania, so she started looking at opportunities interstate.

“I couldn’t really get anything else aside from other customer service jobs, whether it was waitressing or things like McDonald’s,” Ms Whitehead said.

“It wasn’t until I moved to Victoria that I was able to get a job.”

Having completed a degree in applied health and community support, in 2020 she packed her cat and possessions into her car and boarded the Spirit of Tasmania ferry for a new life.

Young people relocating interstate for work or study is a familiar story in Tasmania. While some return, others never bring their skills and experience back home.

New research shows young Tasmanians are better off leaving, when it comes to work and education outcomes.

Ms Whitehead found employment through Victoria’s Youth Employment Scheme, which offers young people a year-long role in the public service.

She worked as a business support officer in Geelong, near Melbourne.

“I’m very glad that I moved away to get that because I don’t think it would have happened here,” she said.

After three years interstate, Ms Whitehead moved back to Burnie this year.

Her experience in Victoria meant she quickly scored a role in accounts and administration.

While moving to the mainland had been on her radar anyway, she said Tasmanians should not have to move away for work.

“It was always something that I had considered, but more just to get a wider worldview, not because I had to do it to get employment,” Ms Whitehead said.

Young Tasmanians who leave have better jobs and higher levels of education

Workforce demographer Lisa Denny had long heard stories of young Tasmanians leaving the state for better opportunities.

“What I really wanted to understand was, what was the actual reality? What was the data telling us about the people who were leaving?” Dr Denny said.

By analysing 2021 census data of people aged 20 to 29, she was able to see the different outcomes for those who left Tasmania compared with those who stayed.

“The results are pretty stark actually, they were much more surprising than I anticipated them being,” she said.

She found those who left Tasmania were more likely to have a higher level of education, to be employed in higher-skilled jobs, and better utilised in the labour market.

Of the young Tasmanians who left for the mainland, 34 per cent had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 17 per cent who stayed in Tasmania.

Amongst those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 61 per cent of people based in Tasmania were over-qualified for their jobs or not working at all. This was compared with 39 per cent of those who had left the state.

“For many, they are forced to go interstate in order to be able to find a job that is equivalent to their level of education that they have completed,” Dr Denny said.

Not all who leave Tasmania bring their skills back home

Harry Gunaseelan, 29, could not have followed his ambition of becoming a prosthetist without leaving Tasmania.

Born and raised in Hobart, Mr Gunaseelan went to Melbourne in 2016 to study health sciences followed by a master of prosthetics and orthotics at La Trobe University.

Prosthetics degrees are only available at two universities in Australia.

“During my time, if you wanted to be an occupational therapist or a physio or work in prosthetics, you were more likely to move to Melbourne where there were those courses available,” he said.

The state’s sole university, the University of Tasmania, has been expanding the health degrees it offers.

Until last year, physiotherapy and speech pathology couldn’t be studied in Tasmania. A course in occupational therapy begins in 2025.

But early-career jobs in Tasmania are also hard to come by.

Mr Gunaseelan has now been in the industry for four years, and is living in Queensland.

“When I graduated, there were no opportunities in Tasmania,” he said,

“There were opportunities in different states around Australia, and Brisbane, for me, was the most attractive of them.”

Mr Gunaseelan hopes to move back to Tasmania one day, after a few more years gaining experience in Brisbane.

‘Opportunity’ for change in youth jobs strategy, researcher says

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2022, Tasmania experienced a net interstate migration loss of 780 people between the ages of 20 to 29.

A spokesperson for Tasmania’s State Growth Department said it was supporting young people into work, education and training, but acknowledged there was “still more to be done” to address access to employment.

It is looking to address the issue through its youth jobs strategy, which will be finalised in the first half of 2024.

“After consultation with employers, community, education and young people, the youth jobs strategy will set a short, medium and long term plan to ensure all young Tasmanians can experience a smooth transition from school to work, further education or training,” the spokesperson said.

“Key themes from the youth jobs strategy consultation included personal barriers young people face when seeking employment including transport, mental health, housing insecurity and cost-of-living pressures.”

Dr Denny said she was hopeful the strategy will lead to change.

“There’s a real opportunity for the Tasmanian government to proactively and strategically think about how it’s going to support Tasmanian youth to be able to stay here if they want to,” she said.

Dr Denny said Tasmania’s ageing population provided an opportunity for young people as older workers exited the workforce.

She said the government needed to expand career education for young people and those re-entering the workforce, so they understood where the opportunities were going to be.

Ms Whitehead would like to see a change in attitude from the businesses reluctant to hire young people.

“There’s the opportunity there, but they expect you to already have the skills and the knowledge,” she said.

“In school, everybody’s like, ‘get good grades, go to uni, everything will be sorted’ and then you get good grades and you go to uni and you still can’t get a job.”