Evaluation of the Australian Wage Subsidy Special Youth ...

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provisions for SYETP and extended SYETP had a small amount of age variation with
extended SYETP excluding 15-17 year olds. They concluded that a smaller share of
commencements for older ages in the target groups was likely due to the flat age payment
of SYETP subsidy whereas employers paid wages within an age related award structure.
Table 2.14 shows the age breakdown of SYETP commencements in 1980/81, while Table
2.15 gives the age/sex breakdown. Total wage reimbursement to Commonwealth
employers and the ability to avoid ‘staff ceiling constraints’ led to older target ages being
more common in this sort of placement. The Extended SYETP was not in operation until
the ‘March 1981’ quarter.
In Table 2.15, the number of commencements gives an idea of the scale of the
programmes in terms of total treated ‘flow’ cases in the period, and the proportion of the
total each programme represents is also shown. It is clear there was a heavy reliance on
the private SYETP, amongst all SYETP, and also there was more widespread use of
SYETP amongst the range all programmes.
Table 2.14 Distribution of SYETP commencements, by age 1980-81
Quarter Sept 1980 Dec 1980 Mar 1981 Jun1981
Age 15-19
years
20-24
years
25 47
years
15-19
years
20-24
years
25
years
15-19
years
20-24
years
25
years
15-19
years
20-24
years
25
years
SYETP
58.6 41.4 0.0 52.3 47.5 0.2 52.2 46.6 1.2 62.7 36.5 0.8
Commonwealth
2nd SYETP 52.8 47.2 0.0 42.9 57.1 0.0 46.9 53.1 0.0 46.9 50.0 3.1
Commonwealth
SYETP private 86.8 13.1 0.1 84.8 15.0 0.2 84.1 15.7 0.2 90.1 9.8 0.1
2nd SYETP 86.2 13.8 0.0 82.5 17.1 0.3 81.4 18.5 0.1 85.8 14.2 0.0
private
Extended SYETP 58.0 41.7 0.3 53.5 46.0 0.5
Source: BLMR (1983) p42 Appendix Table B1. Data is Department of Employment and Industrial
Relations administrative records for commencements to the programme in 1980-81, which thus only refer
to ‘flow’ into the programme and not the total number or ‘stock’ being treated at any one time. Table shows
proportions in the three age groups that sum to 100 per cent of commencements for each quarter and
programme. ‘2 nd SYETP’ placements refer to commencements where this was the 2 nd eligible period of
SYETP assistance – i.e. multiple placements. The Extended SYETP was not in operation until the ‘March
1981’ quarter.
47 The 25 year olds were not eligible but these commencements are explained by ‘Birth dates falling just
prior to or after commencement dates, coding errors’ (BLMR (1983) p42 Appendix Table B1footnote (b)).