This equates to more than 46,000 Australian jobseekers aged 15 to 24 who meet the definition of being 'long term unemployed', says the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

In the new report, titled "Prosperity's children", the anti-poverty organisation also confirms the national youth unemployment rate - back at 12 per cent - is almost three times the 3.9 per cent unemployment rate for people aged 25 and over.

"Despite Australia being about to notch up 30 years of overall economic growth, an estimated 265,000 young people today are in the unemployment queue," said the report, part of BSL's youth employment campaign.

The analysis, from Australian Bureau of Statistics and other data, highlights the intense pressure on young Australians. Young people facing long term unemployment today are worse off than a decade ago, when far fewer of them - one in ten jobseekers - were unemployed for a year or more, compared with the nearly one in five now.

"Our analysis exposes the cruel irony of being young and long-term unemployed in Australia as we approach 30 years of continuous economic growth," says the Brotherhood's Executive Director Conny Lenneberg.

"There is no doubt youth unemployment overall remains an ongoing and urgent challenge - the national rate has again broken through to 12 per cent after an 18-month hiatus.

"We are deeply concerned the long road of prosperity is pitted with potholes for Australia's youth. As a nation, we need to renew our efforts to help young people achieve economic security and reach their goals, like generations of Australians that came before them."

The report also explores how youth unemployment varies across the country, identifying Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia as facing the heaviest burden of youth unemployment with rates of 14 per cent or more.

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