Who employs our young people?

Australia’s youngest workers are heavily concentrated in just two industries.

New ABS Labour Account data show that in June 2026, accommodation and food services accounted for 22.0 per cent of all filled jobs held by people under 25, while retail trade accounted for another 17.8 per cent.

Together, hospitality and retail provided almost 40 per cent of all jobs held by Australians under 25.

Add health care and social assistance and the top three industries account for almost half — 49.6 per cent — of all jobs held by young Australians.

The concentration works in the other direction as well.

Young workers are not merely important to hospitality: they dominate it.

Around 50.4 per cent of all filled jobs in accommodation and food services are held by people under 25. In other words, roughly one in every two hospitality jobs is held by a young worker.

That makes the industry unusually dependent on the employment decisions and availability of younger Australians.

The figures help explain why changes affecting retail and hospitality can have disproportionate consequences for youth employment.

Minimum wages, penalty rates, consumer spending, labour shortages and changes in casual employment conditions may affect the entire workforce, but industries employing large numbers of young people feel those changes particularly strongly.

The data also highlight how narrow the early-career labour market remains.

For many Australians, the first step into employment is still overwhelmingly likely to come through a café, restaurant, hotel, supermarket or shop.

Australia’s youth labour market is therefore much less diversified than the overall economy it eventually feeds into.