Critics claim that permanently boosting unemployment payments from its usual below-poverty-level base will be a disincentive to find a job. But research on the impact of the coronavirus supplement shows that’s wrong, argues Jeff Borland.
With JobMaker about to begin paying employers up to $200 a week to hire workers under 30, the odds have again lengthened against older workers trying to keep their jobs or find one, argues Jane Mussared. Urgent strategies are needed so the older unemployed don’t spend long, unproductive years on JobSeeker.
The JobMaker scheme giving employers cash to hire young workers has passed through federal parliament, after One Nation backed away from supporting a move to disqualify businesses which sacked older staff in order to get the payment.
The minister responsible for welfare payments is encouraging unemployed people to “test their opportunity in the jobs market” as the government prepares to cut JobSeeker by $100 a fortnight.