Business take note and Rudd take note, "we need to start thinking seriously about investing in human capital, that is, the people we have, and their productivity, education, health and age" ('It Doesn't Add Up' by Jeanne-Vida Douglas, BRW Sep 18-24 edition). Whilst this is of particular importance in a culture which has bred an obesity epidemic, we also need to think about the root causes as to why women are choosing not to have children in the first place. As a young female lawyer of the Y-Gen I certainly don't have, much to my mother's dismay, aspirations to juggle my career with children (are you kidding me, it's hard enough being a businesswoman as it is!) so I'm not going to go on about how business, and the government, should be making it easier for families (both partners) to look after their kids.
However, despite all that, I am concerned (yes, us Y-Gen's do have the capacity for compassion!) about ensuring that the young people that are and will be joining the workforce are doing so with adequate levels of literary, numeracy and problem solving. The last thing I want is to give up having children for a career and end up in a senior management role, stuck with the 8 per cent of the population over 65 still in the workforce (as they can't quit because there's not enough young people to support the services they need) and under-achieving youths! Let's support Labor's plan to boost the public education system, which will in turn lead to good employees for Australian businesses, provide the youths with an education and job prospects, and give the old codgers a break!
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