Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Tuesday 30 July 2019
The unemployed in Australia have been betrayed yet again
A
Liberal Party dominated
Australian House Of Representatives Select
Committee on Intergenerational Welfare Dependence
betrayed vulnerable Australians in April 2019.
However, neither the Labor Party
nor Centre Alliance can walk away from the shameful part they played in this betrayal.
The
Age,
23 July 2019:
A
bipartisan call to increase the Newstart allowance was removed from a
parliamentary report at the direction of the Morrison government on
the eve of the federal election.
As
Prime Minister Scott Morrison stares down growing demands by
Coalition MPs to lift the unemployment benefit for the first time
since 1994, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal former
social services minister Paul Fletcher intervened in an inquiry to
erase a major recommendation that would have turbo-charged the
sensitive issue.
The
probe into the causes of long-term welfare was established by the
government in mid-2018 to investigate why some Australians become
trapped in the system.
The
draft final report - agreed to by MPs from the Coalition, Labor and
crossbench - contained a specific call to lift the Newstart payment
for singles and families.
But
sources said Mr Fletcher demanded to review the recommendations
before they were publicly released in April and is understood to have
told the committee chair - veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent -
that the final report could not contain the specific Newstart
recommendation.
The
committee, which included Liberal MPs Kevin Andrews, Bert van Manen,
Ben Morton and Rowan Ramsey, as well as Labor MPs Ged Kearney and
Sharon Bird, was then hastily reconvened to change the wording of the
report.
The
opposition's policy at the time was to merely review Newstart rather
than raise it.
Following
Mr Fletcher's intervention, MPs agreed to only recommend an
examination of the "adequacy of payments on young people and
single parent families".
In
a sign of the growing sensitivity of the issue, Mr Morrison on
Tuesday warned Coalition MPs against airing personal views, telling
them "government is not a blank cheque" and that they
disrespected colleagues by pursuing personal policy agendas.
Amended
Final
Report
can be found here.
Australian
Parliamentary Library Briefing
Book,
retrieved
18 July 2019;
From
20 March 2020, Newstart Allowance will be replaced by a new JobSeeker
Payment. Over time a number of other working age payments such as
Sickness Allowance and Widow Allowance will end and recipients will
also move to the JobSeeker Payment. The new payment will have the
same payment rates and indexation arrangements as Newstart Allowance.
This is part of a 2017–18 budget measure that aims to simplify the
income support system. [my
yellow highlighting]
Wednesday 19 June 2019
SNAPSHOT: Employment, underemployment & unemployment in NSW & Northern Rivers Region - April & May 2019
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour
Force, Australia, May 2019:
·
Australia's
trend estimate of employment increased by 28,400 persons in May 2019, with:
·
the
number of unemployed persons increasing by 5,800 persons;
·
the
unemployment rate remaining steady at 5.1%;
·
the
underemployment rate increasing to 8.5%;
·
the
underutilisation rate increasing to 13.6%;
·
the
participation rate increasing to 65.9%; and
·
the
employment to population ratio remaining steady at 62.5%.
In New South Wales, May 2019
Total employed person – 4,167,000 persons of which est. 31%
are employed part-time
Total underemployment rate – 12.2%
Total unemployed person – 197,500 persons of which est. 68%
were looking for full-time work
Total unemployment rate – 4.5%.
State Electorates in Northern Rivers, April 2019
Clarence Electorate – 58,169 employed persons, unemployment
rate 8.2% and youth unemployment rate 20.5%, with negative annual employment
growth of -2.7%
Lismore Electorate – 83,833 employed persons, unemployment
rate 6.1% and youth unemployment rate 10.2%
Richmond-Tweed Electorate – 115,668 employed persons, unemployment
rate 4.5% and youth unemployment rate 8.9%.
Labels:
employment,
Northern Rivers,
under employment,
unemployment
Tuesday 11 June 2019
So how is Australian wage growth faring so far in 2019?
If one looks at national averages for wage growth or compensation of employees (COE) in March Quarter 2019 it looks as though no-one has been left behind.
However, first glances can be deceptive.
However, first glances can be deceptive.
COE
increased 1.2% and average compensation per employee rose 0.4%.
Private
COE grew 1.4%, while public COE increased 0.7%.
In the March
Quarter 2019 there was negative wages growth in Tasmania, Northern Territory
and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
With a seasonally adjusted -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in Tasmania, a -0.3% total change to pre-tax wages in the Northern Territory and -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in the ACT.
With a seasonally adjusted -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in Tasmania, a -0.3% total change to pre-tax wages in the Northern Territory and -0.4% total change to pre-tax wages in the ACT.
While March Quarter
2019 total percentage changes in pre-tax wages growth for the remaining states was:
Victoria 0.7%
Queensland 0.8%
New South Wales 1.6%
West Australia 1.7%
South Australia 2.0%.
Note: Compensation of Employees (COE) represents total gross (pre-tax) wages paid by employers to employees for work done in March Quarter 2019 accounting period.
Seasonally adjusted there was a 0.5% change in total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses in Australia between December Quarter 2018 and March Quarter 2019.
Note: Compensation of Employees (COE) represents total gross (pre-tax) wages paid by employers to employees for work done in March Quarter 2019 accounting period.
Seasonally adjusted there was a 0.5% change in total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses in Australia between December Quarter 2018 and March Quarter 2019.
Other factors
to consider alongside wages……..
According to the ABS the Cost
Price Index (CPI) rose 1.3 per cent per cent through the year to the
March quarter 2019, after increasing 1.8 per cent through the year to the
December quarter 2018.
In March Quarter 2019 CPI remained flat due to reduced costs
in automotive fuel and domestic/international holiday travel & accommodation.
Although over the last twelve months, food and non-alcoholic beverages group costs
rose 2.3% and, in seasonally adjusted terms food and non-alcoholic
beverages group rose 1.2% this quarter. While in seasonally adjusted terms this
quarter education group costs rose 0.3% and health group rose 0.7%.
Labels:
Australia,
cost of living,
unemployment,
wages
Friday 17 May 2019
Australian economy has grown weaker and workers paypackets leaner under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government
ABC
News, 11 May
2019:
Australia's "strong
economy" has been the Coalition's mantra throughout the election campaign.
Earlier this month, the
Liberal Party created a meme of a smiling Scott Morrison armed with a
lightsaber and dressed as a Jedi alongside the slogan: "The economy is
strong with this one."
In Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's Budget speech, the
phrase "strong economy" featured 14 times.
And Labor, loathe to
campaign on what it sees as the Coalition's territory, has barely challenged
this proposition.
Yet the evidence
suggests the claim is more rhetoric than reality.
On just about any
measure, the economy is not strong — and any enduring pretensions that it is
have been undermined by no less an authority than the Reserve Bank of Australia
(RBA).
Its latest monetary policy statement has revised
down economic growth for this financial year to just 1.7 per cent — more than
half a percentage point below its previous forecast.
That contradicts
Treasury forecasts in the Budget, which are barely a month old and were
reaffirmed by Treasury even more recently in the pre-election economic and
fiscal outlook.
Wages growth, despite a
recent small pick-up, has been weaker during the past six years than at any time since
World War II.
Home values and
household wealth have plummeted amid one of the biggest property slumps in
Australia's history.
The inflation rate is at a historic low of just 1.3 per
cent and has languished below the Reserve Bank's target range of 2 to
3 per cent for more than three years.
Although employment
growth has been reasonably strong, driven by the public sector and community
services, key sectors that drive the economy are shrinking.
Manufacturing,
construction and retail trade have all shed tens of thousands of jobs over the
past year — the building industry layoffs are a product of a massive slump in
dwelling investment, which the RBA reckons will continue for years.
Some better headline
data mask gloomier realities
Only high rates of
immigration have stopped Australia lapsing into a formal recession.
The continued expansion
— now in its 28th year, the longest period without a recession in recent world
history — disguises a "per capita" recession that is driving down
living standards.
Similarly, an
unemployment rate mired at 5 per cent, which is not high by the standards of
recent decades, disguises the true weakness of the labour market.
More than 13 per cent of
the workforce is underutilised — either unable to secure work at all or the
hours they need — and a disproportionate share of the jobs growth in recent
times has been poor quality: casual and contract jobs in relatively low-wage,
low-productivity sectors.
The Reserve Bank is
betting on the unemployment rate staying where it is, but others are less
optimistic.
Westpac's Bill Evans,
one of the most long-standing and respected market economists, predicts that
developments in the labour market over the next three months will disappoint
the RBA with a "deterioration of the labour market" over the coming six
months and "continued weak inflation".
This downturn in the
economy is largely homegrown — the product of weak wages growth and the
unwinding of an unsustainable property boom that left households saddled with
enormous debts.
If there's also an
external shock, perhaps from a trade war sparked by Donald Trump's tariffs on our largest trading partner
China, it will open up the possibility of a double-whammy.
Yogi Berra, the
legendary US baseball star and coach, famously observed that "it's tough
making predictions, especially about the future", and it's a maxim that's
often born[e] out in economic forecasting.
But you don't need a
crystal ball to realise that whoever forms government after the federal
election will inherit a sluggish economy, not a strong one.
ABC
News, 12 May
2019:
The Reserve Bank's new
line in the sand gets its first big test with the latest reading from the jobs
market this week.
The new line, as set
down in the RBA's latest Statement on Monetary Policy (SOMP),
can be roughly defined as the unemployment rate holding at 5 per cent through
2019 and 2020 before drifting lower.
The persistent
head-winds of low inflation has seemingly blurred, if not blown away, the RBA's
previous markers — parallel lines which were intended to corral inflation
between 2 to 3 per cent for as far as the eye can see, or an economist can
forecast.
Governor Philip Lowe
made it clear a further improvement in the labour market was needed to get the
economy out its rut and back in the groove, growing at its full potential.
No back-tracking on this
one for the RBA. Lower unemployment and underemployment — where workers are
searching for more hours to make ends meet — will soak up the spare capacity
sloshing around the economy, inflation gets back to where the RBA wants it and
GDP grows at its long term trend, or better.
That's still a long way
off, even using the RBA's recently updated and far from pessimistic forecasts......
According to
the Australian
Bureau of Statistics, over the twelve months to the March quarter 2019
the living costs for self–funded retiree households fell by -0.2%, while the
living costs for age pensioner households and other government transfer
recipient households rose by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. Employed households living
costs remained unchanged over the same time period at 0.1% above CPI.
It should be noted that penalty rates for retail workers will be further reduced by 15% of the base wage rate on 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2020 as per Fair Work Commission 2017 decision.
Labels:
economy,
Finance,
jobs,
Reserve Bank,
under employment,
unemployment,
wages,
welfare recipients
Friday 10 May 2019
“Welfare-to-work” is now a billion-dollar industry which consistently fails vulnerable jobseekers
The
Guardian, 4
May 2019:
“Welfare-to-work” is now
a billion-dollar industry. Providers compete for the lucrative contracts, worth
$7.6bn to the taxpayer over five years when the last round was signed in 2015.
Proponents for the
privatised system argue the model is much cheaper and boasts a better
cost-to-outcome ratio.
But myriad reports –
including recent findings from
a Senate committee and a government-appointed
panel – have found the most disadvantaged jobseekers are being left
behind.
In 2002, a
Productivity Commission report that was largely supportive of the
then-new privatised model still warned “many disadvantaged job seekers receive
little assistance … so-called ‘parking’”. That practice still occurs under this
name today, according to employment consultants who spoke to Guardian Australia
for this story.
When a person applies
for Newstart, they are assigned a Jobactive provider and placed into one of
three categories ordered by the level of assistance they might need: streams A,
B and C.
The outlook for the
most-disadvantaged jobseekers is bleak: only a quarter will find work each
year. Overall, 40% of those receiving payments will still be on welfare in two
years. While Jobactive has recorded 1.1 million “placements” since 2015, one in
five people have been in the system for more than five years.
New data provided to
Guardian Australia by the Department of Jobs and Small Business shows about 1.9
million people have participated in Jobactive between July 2015 and 31 January
2019. In that time, 350,000 – or 18% – have been recorded gaining employment
and getting off income support for longer than 26 weeks.
And of those 350,000,
only 35,852 – or 10% – had been classified as disadvantaged in Stream C.
Since Lanyon was placed
on Jobactive, he’s had eight job interviews and sent in about 150 applications.
Eighteen months ago he says he slept in his car and showered at a homeless
shelter after finding work close enough to take but too far away for a daily commute.
He knows his chances of
getting back into work diminish each day he’s out of the workforce.
Saturday 12 January 2019
Tweets of the Week
Michael Murray, general manager of Cotton Australia— Des Devlin (@desdevlin38) January 10, 2019
Mr Murray said the decision 18 months ago to drain 2,000 gigalitres of water from the Menindee Lakes was in hindsight “probably a poor decision”.
You fucking think so? #auspol
Labels:
statistics,
unemployment
Wednesday 2 January 2019
State of Play: NSW North Coast Employment Opportunities
It's a brand new year but in regional New South Wales the old issues followed us past midnight on 31 December 2018.
Employment opportunities - where will our unemployed and underemployed people find a job in 2019 and beyond?
This is how the old year ended.....
List
of summary data inNorth Coast
|
|
Data
Name
|
Data
Value
|
Unemployment
Rate (15+):
|
6.1%
|
Unemployed
(15+):
|
7,000
|
Total
jobactive Caseload (15+):
|
10,643
|
Youth
jobactive Caseload (15-24):
|
1,779
|
Mature
Age jobactive Caseload (50+):
|
3,562
|
The future appears to be a mixed bag for the NSW North Coast over the next twenty-four years.
At which point the population may have reached somewhere in the vicinity of 400,000 residents.
However, it is expected there will be a drop in employment levels across Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing on the North Coast.
While Manufacturing only grows slightly in the Richmond-Tweed region and remains static same elsewhere.
Wholesale Trade remains steady in Tweed-Richmond with up to 300 new jobs, but is projected to go backwards in Coffs Harbour-Grafton over the next 24 years.
Retail Trade is predicted to grow modestly across the North Coast, with 900 new jobs predicted.
The Accommodation and Food Services sector is expected to show unspectacular growth right across the North Coast regions with only 900 additional jobs.
Administrative and Support Services employment is projected to rise - but only by 700 jobs up to 2023 and Public Administration & Safety are only expected to add 300 jobs over that same time period.
The Education sector is expected to grow by 700 jobs.
Information, Media & Telecommunications is expected to grow by 8.4% but it will take 24 years to achieve this small improvement on May 2018 figures and barely represents an est. 100 jobs overall.
Financial and Insurance sector employment opportunities are expected to diminish across the regions, but there are expected to be 500 more jobs in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Services.
Transport, Postal & Warehousing employment is predicted to remain at near present levels.
The Mining sector is not expected to grow past May 2018 levels on the North Coast from the Clarence Valley up to the NSW-Queensland border taking in all seven Northern Rivers local government areas.
However Construction employment is expected to grow by 15-16% by 2023 across the region. This represents est. 3,000 more jobs above May 2018 numbers.
Healthcare & Social Assistance is also predicted to grow by 3,900-4,000 available positions by 2023.
See the following Labour Market Information Portal links for further employment projections for regional Australia, including the NSW North Coast:
Employment projections
for the five years to May 2023
Each year, the
Department of Jobs and Small Business produces employment projections by
industry, occupation, skill level and region for the following five-year
period. These employment projections are designed to provide a guide to the
future direction of the labour market, however, like all such exercises, they
are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty.
The 2018 employment
projections are based on the forecasted and projected total employment growth
rates published in the 2018-19 Budget, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) data (June
2018) for total employment, and the quarterly detailed LFS data (May 2018) for
industry employment data.
Labels:
jobs,
New South Wales,
North Coast,
unemployment
Tuesday 11 December 2018
Just three months out from a state election and the NSW Berejiklian Government decides to introduce a new punative public housing policy guaranteed to upset a good many voters
In
2016 est. 37,715 people in New South Wales were recorded as
homeless on Census Night.
The following year the
NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government had a public
housing stock total of 110,221 dwellings and an est. 60,000 people
on the Dept. of Housing 2017 waiting list.
Below is the state government’s answer to the effects of decreasing
public housing stock and federal Coalition Government cuts to public
housing funding allocations to the states - introduce a new initiative under the 'Opportunity
Pathways' program which will cut the housing waiting list by increasing eligibility restrictions, privatise service delivery to certain categories of public housing applicants and tenants in order to ensure that vulnerable individuals and families are discouraged from seeking housing assistance.
The
Daily Telegraph,
7 December 2018, p.2:
Public housing applicants
will have to get a job if they want a taxpayer-funded home under a tough new
test to be introduced in NSW.
The state government is
overhauling the public housing system by stopping residents who
languish on welfare for decades feeling entitled to a cheap home, paid for by
the taxpayer, for their entire life.
Currently less than a
quarter of social housing tenants are in the workforce. There are
about 55,000 people on the public housing waitlist in NSW, and
under the new program they will be able to skip the queue if they agree to get
a job.
But if they get into the
home then fail to get a job or maintain work they will be booted from the
property.
Once they are secure in
a job they will then move into the private rental market and out of the welfare
system.
Social Housing Minister
Pru Goward said the program will “help break the cycle of disadvantage”.
“This is about equipping
tenants with the skills they need to not only obtain a job, but keep it over
the longer term and achieve their full potential,” she said.
“We also want to set to
a clear expectation that social housing is not for life and, for
those who can work, social housing should be used as a stepping stone to
moving into the private rental market.” The new program will be trialled in
Punchbowl and Towradgi, near Wollongong, for three years across 20 properties.
Its success will be evaluated over this time and it’s likely the program will
be expanded across the state.
Homes will be leased for
six months at a time, with renewal dependent on the resident maintaining their
job or education, such as TAFE, and meeting agreed goals within the plan.
RFT ID FACS.18.30
RFT
Type Expression
of Interest for Specific Contracts
Published 23-Aug-2018
Closes 27-Sep-2018 2:00pm
Agency FACS Central Office
Tender Details
The NSW Department of
Family and Community Services (FACS) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI)
from non-government organisatons with the capability to deliver the Opportunity
Pathways program.
Opportunity Pathways is
designed for social housing tenants and their household members, approved
social housing applicants and clients receiving Rent Choice subsidies who
aspire and have the capacity to, with the appropriate support, gain, retain and
increase employment.
The program is voluntary
and uses a person-centred case management approach to provide wrap-around
support and facilitate participant access to services to achieve economic and
housing independence (where appropriate).
The objectives of the
program are to:
assist
participants to gain, retain or increase employment, by accessing supports and
practical assistance, and by participating in education, training and work
opportunities
encourage
and support participants to positively exit social housing or Rent Choice
subsidies to full housing independence, to reduce their reliance on governement
assistance, where appropriate
Please refer to the
Program Guidelines for further details.
Opportunity Pathways
will run for three years and delivered across NSW in those locations where a
need and service gaps are identified.
The program will be
delivered by one or more providers following an EOI and Select Tender.
Location
NSW Regions: Far
North Coast, Mid North Coast, New England, Central Coast, Hunter,
Cumberland/Prospect, Nepean, Northern Sydney, Inner West, South East Sydney,
South West Sydney, Central West, Orana/Far West, Riverina/Murray, Illawarra,
Southern Highlands
Estimated Value
From $0.00 to $36,100,000.00
RFT Type
Expression of Interest
for Specific Contracts - An invitation for Expression of Interest (EOI) for
pre-registration of prospective tenderers for a specific work or service.
Applicants are initially evaluated against published selection criteria, and
those who best meet the required criteria are invited to Tender (as tender type
Pre-Qualified/Invited). [my yellow highlighting]
As of June
2018 in NSW there were 200,564 people registered with Centrelink whose income
was Newstart Allowance and, by September there were only est. 82,400
job vacancies available as the Internet Vacancy Index had been
falling since April 2018. The number of job vacancies were still
falling in October 2018 to 66,000 job vacancies.
Just three months out from a state election and it doesn't appear that the Berejiklian Cabinet or other Liberal and Nationals members of the NSW Parliament have thought this new policy through to its logical conclusion.
Monday 19 November 2018
Will a minority Morrison Government be forced to raise Newstart & Youth Allowances?
Depending on where you live in New South Wales the unemployment rate in September 2018 ranged from 2% to 9%, while youth unemployment went from 4% to 24%.
At the same time employment growth was -3% to barely 10%.
Which means that in September there were est. 195,300 job seekers on Centrelink's books in NSW and only est. 82,400 job vacancies available.
Centrelink Newstart Allowance for a single jobseeker is currently $275.10 per week and Youth Allowance is $222.90 per week for a single jobseeker under 21 years of age.
The million dollar question many people struggling on meagre unemployment benefits in rural and regional NSW will be asking themselves is whether Adam Bandt, Cathy McGowan, Kerryn Phelps, Andrew Wilkie, Rebekha Sharkie, and Bob Katter will use the increased bargaining power which comes to the crossbench in a minority government to force the government's hand on this welfare payment issue. Or will they turn to water?
Here is where the crossbench stands now.....
The
NewDaily, 16
November 2018:
Pressure is mounting on the
Coalition government to raise the Newstart rate following
unanimous lower house crossbench support for a $75 increase.
The Guardian, 16 November 2018:
The entire lower house
crossbench has come out in favour of an increase to Newstart, prompting
Australia’s peak body for the community services sector to accuse the major
parties of being out of touch.
Bob Katter outlined his
support for an increase to the unemployment benefit on Friday, saying it would
help tackle malnutrition in Indigenous communities.
His statement follows
Rebekha Sharkie calling for an increase earlier this week, while the new
Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps committed to raising the payment in a candidates’
survey during the byelection campaign.
Cassandra Goldie, the
chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service, said the “diverse
crossbench’s unity on increasing Newstart confirms just how out of touch the
major parties are on this issue”.
“When Adam Bandt, Cathy
McGowan, Kerryn Phelps, Andrew Wilkie, Rebekha Sharkie, and Bob Katter all
agree, it’s time to stop talking and act,” she said.
Katter said the payment
was insufficient for those in regional Queensland, where the cost of finding a
job was high.
“If you’re outside of
Brisbane, it’s no car, no job,” he said.
Increasing the dole
“would go a long way to enabling First Australians to buy fresh fruit and
vegetables”.
“You’ve crucified us
with the cost of food, you’ve crucified us with the cost of electricity,” he
said. “We can’t possibly live on Newstart.”
The prime minister,
Scott Morrison, has said the government had no plans to increase the payment –
currently $275.10 a week – despite an improved budget position, saying “I don’t
think you can all of a sudden go ‘oh, let’s make whoopee’”.
He said earlier this
month that the government would be more inclined to increase the pension, which
stands at $458.15 a week. The pension was increased during the Gillard
government while Newstart was last raised in real terms in 1994.
Labor has not committed
to lifting Newstart, but signalled it would use a “root and branch review” to
argue for an increase.
Labels:
Australian society,
jobs,
politics,
unemployment,
welfare payments
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