16/11/2017 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Young and jobless in Australia. We

look at two why that is why. And

spending spree that paid off big

time. The -- expectations are blown!

Hello and welcome to Asia Business

Report. Data out this morning from

Australia shows the unemployment

rate at 5.4% for October. That is

down from 5.5% in September and that

signals more jobs have been created

in the economy. But among

Australia's news, unemployment

remains stubbornly high.

There is a togetherness in

disadvantaged. These young

Australians weren't even born when

their country was last in recession.

But they have not had it easy. There

have been long-term unemployment and

homelessness. Shooting hoops with an

education and job seeking charity is

helping them to aim for better

things after years of struggle.

I

was just trying to apply for work

online and people were putting me

down telling me I was never going to

get that job so I stopped trying.

I

knew I had great skills to offer but

I was lacking the confidence in

myself and did not believe in

myself. It was good to have someone

there who believed in me enough to

tell me to go for those

opportunities and grab those

opportunities rather than doubt

myself.

This charity taps into a

network of jobs -- employers to

match jobseekers with employers. But

the unemployment rate for youth is

double that of adults.

We found many

people desperate for an opportunity

to get into a place where they feel

they are contributing. It does not

matter how enthusiastic they are, it

is difficult to find that first

chance to have a go.

Opportunities

can be scarce. A recent study showed

that for every entry level position

in Australia, there were five

applicants.

Usually people would get

an entry-level job. And it is to

beat a little less when you are

young. You start coming to get

training and your skills and grew so

you become more useful to give you

cannot even get on the of the ladder

and that makes it hard.

To have so

many young people unemployed or

underemployed is a terrible waste

for Australia. It is a valuable

resource this country needs to

harness if it is to continue its

proud record of economic growth.

Many young Australians many want the

opportunity to work -- simply want

the opportunity to work and

contribute.

I am the only person

working in my family so I am the

main financial support they have. I

have to be working. I work seven

days a week for the last year,

pretty much. I have been working and

I have goals.

I have plans for my

own business. Australia's redhot

economy has been slowing down as a

long mining boom fade. Growth this

year will be about 1.9%. In 2012 it

was almost double that. A generation

of young and keen workers could just

be -- could be just what Australia

needs to maintain prosperity.

And while Australia's job market

continues to grow as you heard and

that will, youth unemployment is

well into the double digits. Earlier

I spoke to Greg McKenna in Sydney. I

asked him why.

It is a combination

of factors. Training programmes we

have in Australia these years --

days and the fact that so many

children are funnelled into

university as a sort of childminding

part of their life while they try to

figure out what they want to do.

They then come out with skills that

are not relevant in a new economy.

Arts degrees in that sort of thing.

We also do not have commitment from

business to train staff because they

are worried if they train someone

today that person will work

somewhere else soon. And so

millennial 's and kids coming

through these days are suffering

because of the fractious nature of

the economy and the fact that we

have been moving towards service

base in Australia. There is a lot of

work to be done in training kids

through school and through

university or vocation allegiance to

either inside the economy.

What are

some of the solutions? It is about

training but that the onus then lie

on the government in terms of policy

or educators or is it the business

sector?

It is a combination. What

has happened in Australia is that

the government had an experiment of

opening up vocational training to

the private sector. That failed

hopelessly but what you did was part

our vocational public sector. There

is a big push, I think, in New South

Wales and Victoria in particular, to

put muggy back into that sector.

Business needs to make a commitment

as well. They need to take the risk

of taking on young people knowing

that not everybody will get through

all the way in the policy framework

from the Federal government needs to

be there to support those state and

business initiatives. It is a long

game we need to play the policy is

definitely the way we need to go.

Do

you set a policy changing any time

soon to enable business sectors to

get what they need to employ these

young people?

Necessity is the

mother of invention and were

starting now to this push from

business, this agitation that they

are not getting the kind of

qualifications that they need. We

are starting to have this

conversation properly down here in

Australia. It will take some time

but the good news from the data

today is that the youth unemployment

rate fell from 12.6 - 12.1% but it

has not been below them 10% since

the GF see. -- GFC.

10 cents in

China has announced earnings for the

first time since it invested $10

billion in Snapchat. Consent already

dominates the social media space in

China and the company is valued at

$472 billion. It's very -- id owns a

popular chatting app. Tencent is a

major player in a number of areas

the investments are getting

attention. Not just in Snap that in

a diverse range of companies such as

an electric cars start up. And even

Moon express a company that is

trying to send drones to outer

space. I spoke to an investment

adviser who says that the strategy

of the company is hard to pin down.

What I would say is that within the

core business strategy I think

Tencent should be given lots of

leeway to run the businesses they

see fit. I am also concerned that

there is a bit of loss of focus

happening here as Tencent ventures

out be on its core business model of

gaming and social media and

advertising and branches into other

areas that I think are quite

different.

What are these

challenges, would you say? The fact

that they are branching out and they

are losing focus?

Well... It is

quite difficult to become GE. That

does not happen overnight. Whereas I

am not worried about the core

business, just judging by the

quarterly, judging by the earnings

report released yesterday they are

obviously doing a great job. Hell do

we really want Tencent Management on

the cars? For me, as an investor,

that is perhaps a step too far?

Was

the investment in Snap a good idea?

It is not an investment that I would

have made. I am not convinced about

the monetisation strategy. I also

think that it is sufficiently

related to the core business where I

would give Tencent the benefit of

the doubt on that.

In other business

news, Dyson is suing its former

chief executive for allegedly

leaking company secrets and using

company resources for this own

benefit. He stepped down in October

and he was thanked by the founder

but the BBC has learned that he was

fired for an alleged series of

temperatures. He tonight the

allegations and said it would cause

an unnecessary distraction for the

staff. The Dyson board has decided

to bring a claim against him at the

High Court of Justice in London in

relation to this actions. And was

the moment that a 500 work of at

depicting Jesus Christ sold in New

York for more than $450 million. --

500-year-old work of at. It is

believed to be the work of Leonardo

da Vinci and the sale comes after 18

minutes of frenzied bidding in the

historic sale. In 1958 the painting

was sold for $60 at an auction in

London but at that point it was

thought to be the work of a fall

while of Leonardo and not that of

Leonardo himself. -- a follower of

Leonardo.

We are seeing some gains in the

market for the Chinese market but

the All Ordinaries is being

pummelled by oil and resource stock.

And that is it for