A landmark report has for the first time analysed Census data to reveal the hurdles facing young people of non-English speaking backgrounds.
The CALD Youth Report 2014 marks the first time the education, work and home lives of multicultural youth have been specifically analysed.
Far from being a fringe group, young refugees and the children of migrants comprise about one in four of the country's 12- to 24-year-olds and for those transitioning from school to work in the 18-to-24 age bracket, the data is startling.
Culturally diverse youth are excelling in the quest for qualifications, with 58 per cent in education, compared with 39 per cent of Australian-born youths but far fewer are in the workforce- just 55 per cent, compared with 71 per cent of other Australians.
Report author Professor Graeme Hugo says the big gap in the workforce figure is not simply a result of migrant youth staying in study longer.
"They do have cultural and linguistic barriers that are always there, and I think also prejudice and lack of knowledge of employers," he said.
"I think there's probably been a tendency in our services to not recognise the enormous diversity and need in this group."
Carmel Guerra, from the Centre for Multicultural Youth, says part of the problem is the newer arrivals do not have longstanding networks to smooth the path to work.
She says it's not what, but who these young people don't know that's cruelling their chances.
"I think there is a piece of work that needs to be done with prospective employers in the community – small businesses, large businesses - to say that they need to look more broadly at the profile of the young people that they want to employ," she said.
"I think they are an untapped resource - highly motivated, engaging, wanting to make a contribution to society but that often don't get the first step in."
Summa Tun is a student getting work experience at the Centre for Multicultural Youth. She says her Karen heritage has presented challenges when applying for work.
"In the beginning, like all people that have moved from another country, the language was definitely the number one barrier."
"But I guess I was fortunate enough to have learnt English and improved my language at a young age."
"But still when I got my first job at McDonald's, I struggled with just learning the idea of step-by step procedures and communicating with other people."
She thinks employers' expectations are unnecessarily high, and the young people like her struggle to get the experience to impress them.
"Usually people who have a lot of experience usually get the job but what I don't quite understand is why they don't offer more work experience to just people like myself when I was younger and young people in school," she said.
Albert Mambo was a top ranking student in Uganda, but the 21 year old says he’s nevertheless struggled to secure work. He's now in a traineeship as a business administrator; still building his skills in a bid to get a job.
“Some migrant people they come when they've already had some education back home, they had some experiences in some jobs which is related here," he said.
"But when you come here those things are not acknowledged at all, which means you have to start everything again sometimes which puts young people from migrant backgrounds down."
"So if they think of what they've done before, and starting everything again, which puts their head very down."
Parliamentary Secretary for Settlement and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells says the government recognises the challenges presented in the report and is acting.
"This research increases our understanding of the dynamics and drivers facing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse youth, allowing us to design better policies and programs to support this cohort and build a more cohesive and dynamic multicultural society."
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