Jim's Mowing boss issues a brutal piece of advice to young Aussies: 'Waste of ... trends now

One of Australia's most well-known entrepreneurs is pushing young Aussies to consider picking up a trade instead of 'wasting their time' at university studying an arts degree. 

Jim Penman, the founder of the Jim's Group, spoke out against arts degrees, despite holding a PhD in history himself.

'I can tell you that what I learned in my art degree had absolutely nothing to do with anything I've achieved in business.' 

'An arts degree is an incredible waste of time, and I think the problem is that they're so heavily subsidised by the government,' Mr Penman said.

'And yet apprenticeships, which is basically dealing with people who aren't quite so as academic are massively underfunded,' he claimed.

'It's like there's some sort of government policy that says, well, you know we can do without plumbers and electricians, but you can never have too many art historians.

'We need more builders, we need people who can do things.'

He told Daily Mail Australia that the belief one must attend university and earn a degree to secure employment is misguided, as it may not necessarily provide the practical skills required for a job. 

'These days, you have to do a degree, but when you come out of it you still don't know anything at all.

'But if you've got a couple years of experience in something and you're actually able to do something, then it's quite easy to get a job,' Mr Penman said.

'The trouble is you go to university and you learn something for somebody who's never been in the field. You know what they say, those who can do and those who can't teach.' 

He said that numerous young Australians feel compelled to pursue degrees because companies demand them. 

'More and more people are taking tertiary degrees in general, because they recognise that large companies, require it,' he explaind.

'But really you spent three years at university studying some useless subject. So at least you know you can stand being bored.' 

Mr Penman suggested the government needs to increase funding for trade qualifications.

'There should be a lot more money put into trade qualifications and basic qualifications,' he said.

He said the trade education system in Australia also needed to be overhauled.

'If you want to do roof plumbing, which is just basically sheets of iron, you have to do a four-year apprenticeship course,' he said.

'So [we need] a system of education that allows people to actually learn to do these sort of things more quickly and just be assessed.'

Mr Penman highlighted his company's ability to train franchisees in trade skills within eight weeks.

'We teach people to build fences and fencing is a fantastic business, it's very lucrative, there's masses and masses of work to be done so you can make a great living.

'We teach a person eight weeks from scratch, and they're good fencers.'

He suggested that the government should consider adopting a comparable model for vocational training.

The entrepreneur said that one way to kickstart the process was by offering government subsidies to employers, incentivising them to hire more trainees.