More than a million unemployed Australians will get a smaller but extended coronavirus supplement after Christmas but experts called on the government to lock in a permanent increase to JobSeeker to avoid a new fiscal cliff next year.
In a $3.2 billion move, the $250-a-fortnight supplement for people on JobSeeker that was due to end on December 31 will be cut to $150 but maintained until the end of March.
The payment is on top of the regular JobSeeker payment of $565.70 a fortnight for singles, with the government still to decide by how much it will be permanently increased.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was balancing the need for emergency support during the depths of the coronavirus recession with the way the economy was now recovering. He said job advertisements had doubled since May while more jobs would become available as the economy re-opened.
"It was essential to provide these emergency measures but for Australia to move forward again we can't remain trapped by those emergency measures," he said.
"Australians have always known, as we went into these most difficult times, that the elevated support that was necessary during these times of crisis is not sustainable on an ongoing basis and they understand that we need to re-gear the economy as we move through to the recovery."
But it has prompted fears among economists and welfare groups of another "fiscal cliff", with the supplement due to end just three days after the government's JobKeeper wage subsidy program. The government averted a similar cliff in September when it reduced but extended both JobSeeker and JobKeeper.
Both payments are now due to finish at a time when the Reserve Bank expects the jobless rate to be between 7.5 and 8 per cent. The government's own forecasts suggest unemployment will be close to 7.5 per cent.
Deloitte Access Economics director Chris Richardson said the government needed to quickly decide on a higher, permanent JobSeeker payment given the economic uncertainty facing so many unemployed Australians.
"I would like to see extra money being pumped into the Australian economy and especially to those who need it most and are most likely to spend it," he said. "It is very important to provide an ongoing increase in the unemployment benefit and that should come sooner rather than later. Certainty is pure gold at the moment."
Labor social services spokesperson Linda Burney said the government was cutting support to an expected 1.8 million people just a week after Christmas, warning the move could deepen or extend the recession.
"Cutting unemployment and economic support will not just place Australians who have lost their jobs at risk of hardship and poverty, it jeopardises jobs," she said. "There are simply not enough jobs for every Australian who needs one. Cutting unemployment support too soon will make the recession longer and deeper."
ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said JobSeeker had to be increased by at least $25 a day from its current $40-a-day level. That would take JobSeeker to more than $910 a fortnight.
She said the extension of the JobSeeker supplement at a lower rate would hurt the economy.
"It is a crushing blow for people and it's a damaging mistake for the people affected and the wider economy," she said.
Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said the extra support would help vulnerable people and aid retailers through the important Christmas period but a permanent increase had to be locked in.
"Providing a three-month extension is a Band-Aid on a social and economic wound that we need to address as a nation, however, we are pleased that there is now more time to identify a permanent solution during this critical period in our recovery," he said.
Shane is a senior economics correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
David Crowe is chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Most Viewed in Politics
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L3BvbGl0aWNzL2ZlZGVyYWwvZmVhcnMtb2YtZnJlc2gtZmlzY2FsLWNsaWZmLXdoZW4tam9ic2Vla2VyLXN1cHBsZW1lbnQtZW5kcy1pbi1tYXJjaC0yMDIwMTExMC1wNTZkYWwuaHRtbNIBgAFodHRwczovL2FtcC5zbWguY29tLmF1L3BvbGl0aWNzL2ZlZGVyYWwvZmVhcnMtb2YtZnJlc2gtZmlzY2FsLWNsaWZmLXdoZW4tam9ic2Vla2VyLXN1cHBsZW1lbnQtZW5kcy1pbi1tYXJjaC0yMDIwMTExMC1wNTZkYWwuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-11-10 08:30:00Z
CAIiEI8sXwq7UpOz6KRB2bWlBJAqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowxqmICzDg_IYDMNbfmwY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fears of fresh fiscal cliff when JobSeeker supplement ends in March - Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment