Photo: AAP/Kelly Barnes

News

Skipping meals due to low Centrelink JobSeeker payments a 'scandal': Anglicare

Anglicare Australia has called for a permanent lift to JobSeeker payments, saying a return to the old pre-pandemic level of unemployment payment will see some recipients trying to live on $7 a day after paying rent.

Opinion

Higher Centrelink JobSeeker payment won't discourage looking for work

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.

Opinion

Youth jobs incentive could push older Australians into unemployment and poverty

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.

National

JobMaker youth subsidy go ahead after older worker protections knocked out

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.

National

Minister tells unemployed to "put their toe" in jobs market as Centrelink Jobseeker faces cut

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.