By TESS IKONOMOU

Deputy Premier James Merlino stressed the importance of education to impressionable young students at a work expo in North Melbourne last week.

The youth unemployment rate in Melbourne’s northern suburbs reached 14.6 per cent in 2014 – the highest since 1990 – and North Melbourne Football Club’s The Huddle is working hard to lower these staggering statistics.

The Huddle provides a range of programs for young people from predominately refugee backgrounds in the inner Melbourne suburbs.

It is aimed at lowering disillusionment from the community – study support sessions are regularly held, as are weekly sport nights often visited by the club’s football players.

The latest expo provided networking and job-hunting workshops, with students from local high schools able to mingle with representatives from different organisations and businesses.

The Deputy Premier, James Merlino, attended the event in a show of support for the organisation and its various partners' efforts to increase the chances of employment for youth in the inner north.

“Education is a lifelong journey and each time you change career, each time you say yes to that challenge, education is going to be a part of that journey,” he said.

Mr Merlino said he believed it was important for job seekers to be able to conduct relationships and engage with people.

“If you want to be a doctor, if you want to be a pilot, a lawyer, a teacher, yes you need a certain level of academic performance, but it’s about developing the whole person.”

He said the Government was trying to establish “Victoria as the education state”.

“Victoria’s economy is shifting to a knowledge-based one.”

Mr Merlino also told guests attending that, as Education Minister, he and the Government were focused on “delivering on our promises to health, education and jobs”.

The Labor Government has recently invested over $30 million in tackling at-risk youth and youth unemployment through local learning programs and employment networks.