Narelle Clay, CEO of Southern Youth and Family Services recently told the Mercury that they were seeing increased incidences of young people who are unable to acquire income, either via work or Centrelink. 

“Even those that are able to get some work, they’re only getting casual work,” she said. 

“So it’s short-term, insecure and often doesn’t pay well, and sometimes they’ve got to manage two or three casual jobs at the one time. 

“And because it’s insecure they can’t get secure housing, or if they do they eventually get evicted because they can’t get casual work for a few fortnights and then can’t pay the rent.”

At one stage, Matthew*, 18, worked three casual jobs, but felt pressure that if he knocked back a shift at one place to work in another that he would lose one of the casual jobs.

He lives in supported accommodation in the Illawarra, subsidised by SYFS’ Illawarra Youth Foyer Project. 

He’s not currently working, but is seeking a “secure” full-time position.

Matthew admits he “lost some opportunities” by leaving previous jobs, which he says may have been due to a lack of maturity. 

“I don’t want to rely on Centrelink… I need to get a job, but it is pretty hard to get a job in the system as it is now,” he said. 

Mitchell*, 20, lives in community housing and has been casually employed as a builders’ labourer for almost six months. He was initially being paid cash. 

“The hardest thing probably would be if I didn’t work for a week… If he (his boss) doesn’t have a job lined up , then obviously there’s nothing you can do about that.

“That’s why I’m on casual, so that if it rains or whatever and we can’t work, it doesn’t make his business go under having to pay for me.

“Paying rent in general was hard before I had a job, because living off Centrelink’s impossible. Anybody who says they can live off $17 a day is lying.”

*Names changed by request

Read More: Narelle Clay, CEO of Southern Youth and Family Services criticises the increasing 'casualisation’ of the workforce

‘There’s no payslip or anything’: worker

A young Illawarra woman who works a casual job says delays in being paid can make it difficult to budget for expenses such as rent. 

Sarah*, 20, lives in supported accommodation in Wollongong, subsidised by Southern Youth and Family Services’ Illawarra Youth Foyer Project. 

She also has a SYFS scholarship, which assists her to purchase items that can assist in her studies.

She also receives some Centrelink benefits. 

The university student is casually employed as a waitress at an Illawarra restaurant.

Sarah works two days a week, but said she is not paid on a regular basis, and doesn’t always receive her full pay when this does occur. 

In some instances there have been delays of up to a couple months in being paid. 

She said it took a “long time” for her to find any casual employment.

At one previous job at a takeaway shop, she was getting “ten dollars or less sometimes (per hour)”. 

“I don’t get paid fortnightly; I just get paid whenever they want to,” she said of her current job. “There’s no payslip or anything… But we do log in on the computer.”

She had been putting off even telling SYFS about these issues, for fear of losing her job or causing issues at work.

Sarah said irregular payment made it difficult to budget for expenses such as rent.

“They should pay me every week or fortnight; there should be a day that they pay you,” she said.

Narelle Clay, CEO of SYFS said this increasing “casualisation” of the workforce has a knock-on effect, including ensuring young people “don’t get good records in terms of renting”. 

*Name changed by request