Tough new rules have been introduced to JobSeeker, with the burgeoning number of recipients now being forced to meet stronger standards to keep getting the Centrelink payment.
Australians from all states and territories except Victoria will now be forced to apply for at least four jobs per month to continue receiving JobSeeker payments.
The requirements, known as ‘mutual obligations’, were suspended in March when the coronavirus lockdowns forced thousands of businesses to close and threw many workers onto the unemployment payment.
Victorians on benefits are exempt from the changes, as the state has reintroduced Stage 4 lockdowns in the hope of stemming a second wave of COVID-19 which has seen hundreds of new cases each day.
People queue up outside a Centrelink office in Melbourne on April 20 after losing their jobs due to the pandemic
According to Services Australia, welfare recipients must be willing to accept any job offer or risk financial support being cut off.
‘Your payment may be cancelled for at least four weeks if you refuse suitable work without a reasonable excuse,’ the welfare body said on its website.
The JobSeeker supplement will be reduced from $550 to $250 a fortnight in September – making the total fortnightly payment for dole recipients $800.
It also said recipients must accept a job even if it does not fit with the applicant’s skills or established career path.
Job seekers who have their payments cancelled for refusing ‘suitable work’ wil be forced to submit a new benefits claim with a waiting period of four weeks.
According to a statement from the office of Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, job service providers will determine whether a position is ‘suitable’ on a case-by-case basis.
People queue for a Centrelink Service Centre in Sydney at the onset of the pandemic in March
‘Services Australia will consider whether the job seeker has a reasonable excuse for not accepting the position, based on their individual circumstances,’ it told the ABC in a statement.
While the number of jobs that recipients need to apply for remains much lower than before the pandemic – when it was 20 per month – some say it’s too early to reintroduce such a criterium due to the continued moribund state of the job market.
Alison Pennington, a senior economist at the Centre for Future Work, said the requirements will come as a shock to many Australians who have never been on welfare before.
She told the publication many will find the concept of accepting a job outside their field challenging, which could result in their payments being cancelled.
Commuters wearing facemasks are seen waiting for a tram during COVID-19 in Melbourne, as the city goes into a second lockdown
An empty Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne, Tuesday, August 4. It is estimated that one million people are now unemployed as a result of the pandemic
JobSeeker benefits were overhauled in March during the initial lockdowns, effectively doubling fortnightly payments to help newly unemployed people pay rent and feed their families.
It is estimated that one million people are now unemployed as a result of the pandemic, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
But economist Peter Whiteford from the Australian National University said that number will balloon once the 3.5 million people currently on JobKeeper benefits will find they have no job to return to.
JobKeeper is a government initiative where employers are given financial aid to keep their staff through the lockdowns, and pass that on to employees.
‘If another million out of those 3.5 million end up on benefits, that’s a 14 per cent [unemployment rate].’
Inside Royale Arcade, Melbourne, Tuesday, August 4 as the city goes into lockdown the curb the spread of coronavirus
Melbourne entertainment worker Jarrod Farr, 30, lost his job due to the pandemic in April.
While Mr Farr is from Victoria and not required by Centrelink to make applications, he has been looking for work regardless.
‘Since I found out [Victoria] was going to lock down, a bunch of jobs I’ve applied for all started closing,’ he told the publication.
‘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.’
He said he has received hundreds of rejections in the dwindling job market.