Post by bear on Aug 4, 2020 7:43:40 GMT 7
Mutual obligations return for JobSeeker recipients outside Victoria
Despite the crowded job market, the Federal Government will today reintroduce rules for most JobSeeker recipients, forcing them to apply for a certain number of jobs every month in order to keep receiving welfare.
Key points:
JobSeeker recipients will need to apply for four jobs a month to stay on welfare
Victorians on JobSeeker will be exempt from mutual obligation requirements
Economists warn job seekers will have “very little rights” to reject inappropriate jobs
In South Australia, Wendy Morgan is bracing for the worst.
"I'm terrified, absolutely terrified," the former lab technician said.
The 59-year-old has been on JobSeeker, and its predecessor Newstart, for eight years.
During that time, she has been sent to a series of low-paid casual jobs through her employment service provider assigned by Centrelink, many of which are completely at odds with her professional experience and her physical capacity.
"[They] told me that I had to do unskilled work, because they basically thought I was too old to get work in my qualified field," she said.
For the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic read our coronavirus live blog.
These requirements, known as mutual obligations, were suspended in March due to the COVID-19 economic shutdown.
Now job seekers outside of Victoria will have to apply for up to four jobs a month to keep receiving the payment.
"The jobs just aren't out there at the moment … employers are going to be inundated [with applicants]," Ms Morgan said.
"When the mutual obligations come back in, they will be forcing people to go for jobs they are not suited for."
If a JobSeeker recipient declines a job the employment service provider deems to be "suitable", their payment can be cut off.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said: "From 4 August 2020, if a job seeker refuses an offer of suitable employment — without a valid reason — they may have their payment cancelled."
JobKeeper/Seeker changes explained
The Government is extending and tweaking its coronavirus income support schemes. Here's what you need to know.
The statement also said if that happened, job seekers would need to reapply for income support and serve a four-week "preclusion period" before the payment would resume.
Ms Morgan knows how this works — she has had her payments stopped twice in the past.
"I do remember in 2018, my payments were stopped for eight weeks and that was for not attending an appointment," she said.
"It's that constant fear. If your payments have stopped for eight weeks what do you do? You can't pay your rent. You can't buy food. You can't look for work."
'The grind' of bureaucracy
The number of job applications recipients need to submit under reintroduced mutual obligations is significantly fewer than before COVID-19, when job seekers had to apply for up to 20 jobs a month.
But some economists believe it is still far too early to be bringing mutual obligations back.
Mutual obligations return for JobSeeker recipients outside Victoria
Ms Pennington said those on JobSeeker needed to be prepared to be offered jobs they would never have considered before.
"You have very little rights as someone in the mutual obligation system to turn away a job," she said.
"In fact, the Government has been very weak on details about what relative rights there are for the unemployed."
A spokesperson for Senator Cash said if the job service provider determined a job was suitable and the job seeker disagreed, the matter could be referred to the department that ran Centrelink, Services Australia.
"Services Australia will consider whether the job seeker has a reasonable excuse for not accepting the position, based on their individual circumstances," they said in a statement.
Victorians get a reprieve
For now, the mutual obligation requirements will not apply to those on JobSeeker in Victoria, although a statement on the Department of Employment website said: "Job seekers are encouraged to remain connected with their employment service providers."
"I appreciate that," said Jarrod Farr, a 30-year-old Melbourne man who lost his job in the entertainment industry in April.
"Since I found out [Victoria] was going to lock down, a bunch of jobs I've applied for all started closing," he said.
"Obviously the employers realise that they're not going to be able to actually employ anyone and they've just gotten rid of the advertising altogether."
Mr Farr has been surviving on JobSeeker, but rather than not meeting the mutual obligations quota, he has lost track of how many jobs he applied for.
"It's up in the hundreds … I'm getting knockback after knockback," he said.
"I just think there's too many people looking for work and not enough jobs to support them."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are about 1 million people out of work and the official unemployment rate is 7.4 per cent.
But leading economists such as Peter Whiteford from the Australian National University believe that figure is too low.
"The number of people on [welfare] payments at the moment is probably a better indication of the real unemployment rate," he said.
"So rather than it being a million, I think it's probably at least 50 per cent higher than that."
Professor Whiteford argues it is highly plausible that many of the 3.5 million people on the JobKeeper wage subsidy will eventually wind up on JobSeeker.
"If another million out of those 3.5 million end up on benefits, that's a 14 per cent [unemployment rate]," he said.
He said high unemployment could be with us for a while.
"The way people interact socially for the next couple of years is going to be permanently altered simply because of the risks of contagion," Professor Whiteford said.
"It seems to me that it's going to be a much slower recovery than I would have said a few months ago."
Cleaning and food-delivery
All of this means job seekers like Ms Morgan will have fewer good jobs to choose from.
Even though she worked for nine years as a lab technician, she is mostly offered cleaning and pizza-delivery jobs.
"I'm almost 60 now, and I'm not physically capable of doing a lot of the cleaning work that's required," she said.
But she is concerned about what will happen if she refuses a job her employment service provider deems to be suitable.
"If I have my payments cut again yet, I'll end up living in my car again," she said.
"I won't survive if that happens."
www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-04/mutual-obligations-return-for-jobseeker-welfare-recipients/12512940
Despite the crowded job market, the Federal Government will today reintroduce rules for most JobSeeker recipients, forcing them to apply for a certain number of jobs every month in order to keep receiving welfare.
Key points:
JobSeeker recipients will need to apply for four jobs a month to stay on welfare
Victorians on JobSeeker will be exempt from mutual obligation requirements
Economists warn job seekers will have “very little rights” to reject inappropriate jobs
In South Australia, Wendy Morgan is bracing for the worst.
"I'm terrified, absolutely terrified," the former lab technician said.
The 59-year-old has been on JobSeeker, and its predecessor Newstart, for eight years.
During that time, she has been sent to a series of low-paid casual jobs through her employment service provider assigned by Centrelink, many of which are completely at odds with her professional experience and her physical capacity.
"[They] told me that I had to do unskilled work, because they basically thought I was too old to get work in my qualified field," she said.
For the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic read our coronavirus live blog.
These requirements, known as mutual obligations, were suspended in March due to the COVID-19 economic shutdown.
Now job seekers outside of Victoria will have to apply for up to four jobs a month to keep receiving the payment.
"The jobs just aren't out there at the moment … employers are going to be inundated [with applicants]," Ms Morgan said.
"When the mutual obligations come back in, they will be forcing people to go for jobs they are not suited for."
If a JobSeeker recipient declines a job the employment service provider deems to be "suitable", their payment can be cut off.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said: "From 4 August 2020, if a job seeker refuses an offer of suitable employment — without a valid reason — they may have their payment cancelled."
JobKeeper/Seeker changes explained
The Government is extending and tweaking its coronavirus income support schemes. Here's what you need to know.
The statement also said if that happened, job seekers would need to reapply for income support and serve a four-week "preclusion period" before the payment would resume.
Ms Morgan knows how this works — she has had her payments stopped twice in the past.
"I do remember in 2018, my payments were stopped for eight weeks and that was for not attending an appointment," she said.
"It's that constant fear. If your payments have stopped for eight weeks what do you do? You can't pay your rent. You can't buy food. You can't look for work."
'The grind' of bureaucracy
The number of job applications recipients need to submit under reintroduced mutual obligations is significantly fewer than before COVID-19, when job seekers had to apply for up to 20 jobs a month.
But some economists believe it is still far too early to be bringing mutual obligations back.
Mutual obligations return for JobSeeker recipients outside Victoria
Ms Pennington said those on JobSeeker needed to be prepared to be offered jobs they would never have considered before.
"You have very little rights as someone in the mutual obligation system to turn away a job," she said.
"In fact, the Government has been very weak on details about what relative rights there are for the unemployed."
A spokesperson for Senator Cash said if the job service provider determined a job was suitable and the job seeker disagreed, the matter could be referred to the department that ran Centrelink, Services Australia.
"Services Australia will consider whether the job seeker has a reasonable excuse for not accepting the position, based on their individual circumstances," they said in a statement.
Victorians get a reprieve
For now, the mutual obligation requirements will not apply to those on JobSeeker in Victoria, although a statement on the Department of Employment website said: "Job seekers are encouraged to remain connected with their employment service providers."
"I appreciate that," said Jarrod Farr, a 30-year-old Melbourne man who lost his job in the entertainment industry in April.
"Since I found out [Victoria] was going to lock down, a bunch of jobs I've applied for all started closing," he said.
"Obviously the employers realise that they're not going to be able to actually employ anyone and they've just gotten rid of the advertising altogether."
Mr Farr has been surviving on JobSeeker, but rather than not meeting the mutual obligations quota, he has lost track of how many jobs he applied for.
"It's up in the hundreds … I'm getting knockback after knockback," he said.
"I just think there's too many people looking for work and not enough jobs to support them."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are about 1 million people out of work and the official unemployment rate is 7.4 per cent.
But leading economists such as Peter Whiteford from the Australian National University believe that figure is too low.
"The number of people on [welfare] payments at the moment is probably a better indication of the real unemployment rate," he said.
"So rather than it being a million, I think it's probably at least 50 per cent higher than that."
Professor Whiteford argues it is highly plausible that many of the 3.5 million people on the JobKeeper wage subsidy will eventually wind up on JobSeeker.
"If another million out of those 3.5 million end up on benefits, that's a 14 per cent [unemployment rate]," he said.
He said high unemployment could be with us for a while.
"The way people interact socially for the next couple of years is going to be permanently altered simply because of the risks of contagion," Professor Whiteford said.
"It seems to me that it's going to be a much slower recovery than I would have said a few months ago."
Cleaning and food-delivery
All of this means job seekers like Ms Morgan will have fewer good jobs to choose from.
Even though she worked for nine years as a lab technician, she is mostly offered cleaning and pizza-delivery jobs.
"I'm almost 60 now, and I'm not physically capable of doing a lot of the cleaning work that's required," she said.
But she is concerned about what will happen if she refuses a job her employment service provider deems to be suitable.
"If I have my payments cut again yet, I'll end up living in my car again," she said.
"I won't survive if that happens."
www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-04/mutual-obligations-return-for-jobseeker-welfare-recipients/12512940
