The rising bar: Rising education and skill levels are creating a more competitive job market.

• Young people in Australia are more highly qualified but less likely to find a job than previous generations. Refugee and migrant young people face additional challenges, even though they may come from families who strongly value and promote educational success.
• 38% of young people whose parents were born overseas were in some form of tertiary education in 2016. This compares with 25% of young people whose parents were born in Australia. 
• Only 45% of university students born outside Australia find full-time employment after graduation, compared with 69% of Australian-born university students.
  
  

Global reach: Digital technology and globalisation are changing all facets of society.

• Young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds might be more globally networked than their Australian-born peers but they lack the local networks that lead to employment opportunities.
• First-generation migrants aged 15–24 are much more likely to be employed in part-time than full-time work, compared with Australian-born young people. The ‘gig economy’ can expose refugee and migrant young people to precarious work conditions and other risks.
  
  
  

Life’s richer tapestry: Culture and society are increasingly diverse.

• In 2016, one in five Australians aged 12–24 was born overseas. A further 25% of young people had at least one parent born overseas. 
• Young people in Australia are significantly more accepting of multiculturalism than older age groups.
• The incidence of racial discrimination has been rising steadily over the past 10 years. Young people aged 18-24 years are most likely to be impacted.
  
  

Overexposure online: The virtual world has changed relationships and ideas about privacy.

• More than half of all young people aged 15-17 years, and around 45% of 18–24 year olds, spent 15 or more hours online per week in 2014–15.
• Some refugee and migrant young people may have poor digital literacy skills or limited access to the internet, which can impact their connectedness and participation in Australian society.
• Refugee and migrant young people may be more digitally literate than their parents.
• Cyber-racism is a key threat for refugee and migrant young people in Australia. One study found that Muslims, asylum seekers and refugees are the most frequent targets of harmful race-based online content.
  
  

Out of the shadows: Scientific research will improve understanding of mental health and wellbeing, and service delivery models will change.

• Growing awareness about mental illness has reduced stigma.
• Mental health resources designed for refugee and migrant young people must be co-designed with young people in order to adequately reflect their diverse needs.
• Migrants to a developed economy are known to have better health on arrival than native-born populations, so further research into this resilience could have society-wide benefits.