ALMOST half of Australians on unemployment benefits are over 45, 41 per cent have disabilities and close to half a million people remain on unemployment benefits for more than a year.
All these statistics were recorded in September 2019 before the impacts of coronavirus reached Australia. The Faces of Unemployment is a report by the Australian Council of Social Services and Jobs Australia. This report identifies unemployment trends that are overlooked by the standard unemployment figure.
This report claims that the decline in availability of entry-level jobs and an under-investment in employment services are factors that enhance long-term unemployment.
Now with the effects of the coronavirus impacting Australia, the unemployment rate is expected to drastically increase. In September 2019 there were over 750,000 people unemployed.
In fact, a Report by the Grattan Institute, Shutdown: estimating the COVID-19 employment shock makes the following estimates:
-Between 14 and 26 per cent of the Australian workforce could lose their jobs, which means that Australia’s unemployment rate will rise to between 10 and 15 per cent.
-Lower-income workers are twice as likely to be out of paid work as high-income earners.
-Younger people and women are also likely to be disproportionally impacted by job losses.
In order to address increasing unemployment as a result of coronavirus impacts, there are several temporary measures in place, which have been well-reported in the media.
Although these measures have been well received, they are temporary and do not address the underlying problems of unemployment. The Government now needs to focus on planning for the rebuild beyond the next six months.
Australia should never go back to the low rate of the old Newstart payment of just $40 a day or the punitive approaches that punish and demonise people
