Teenagers finding themselves out of work are taking nearly six months to find a job.
Unemployed 15 to 19 year olds in October had been looking for work for an average of just under 26 weeks, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.
October is a high month for youth unemployment, typically about three weeks above the underlying trend.
So that 26 weeks would work out to about 23 weeks, a week over five months, if seasonally adjusted.
The average for the past 16 years - as far back as comparable figures go - is 19 weeks.
So the average duration of youth unemployment is about a month longer than normal at the moment.
Youngsters are undoubtedly doing it a bit tougher than usual.
But should we feel sorry for them - at least sorrier than we are for older unemployed people?
Here are some facts which might help spread the sorrow around.
Of the 125,200 teenagers who were unemployed in October, 79,100 or 63 per cent of them were full-time students, either at school or in tertiary education.
That's not a mistake.
All they need to do to fit the definition of unemployed is to be looking for a job - any job, even an after school shift at a fast food restaurant - and ready to start.
And, while that 26 weeks of job hunting is long, it's not as long as the 41 weeks - nine and half months - other job hunters, 20 years and over, spend looking for work.
Or the 71 weeks - more than a year and four months - the jobless aged 55 and over spend in society's too hard basket.
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