Ensuring the very long‑term unemployed are not left behind
Grant has not worked for two years, but he has been receiving support to find a job through Job Services Australia (JSA). In his second year of unemployment, he was required to undertake work experience activities for two days a week for half the year.
In the six months when Grant was not undertaking work experience activities his motivation and efforts to find a job diminished.
In his third year of unemployment, under the new obligations of the very long‑term unemployed, Grant is required to participate in work experience activities for 11 months of the year instead of six months.
He is still required to undertake work experience activities two days per week, but the increased length of his requirement reinforces life and employment skills and increases Grant's motivation to find work.
Grant's JSA provider uses the new wage subsidy for the very long‑term unemployed to encourage a local landscaping business to employ Grant.
Support for the very long‑term unemployed
A sustained period of economic growth has seen the rate of unemployment trend downwards since the early 1990s. However, nearly 230,000 people on income support have been receiving employment services support for over two years.
The Government will provide $233 million to help get the very long‑term unemployed into jobs. This includes:
- $95 million for six‑month wage subsidies to reward employers who take on a very long‑term unemployed person and help them re‑engage with the workforce, with the subsidy set at the average rate of Newstart Allowance
- $133 million for more intensive obligations for the very long‑term unemployed, requiring people who have spent two years in employment services to participate in work experience for two days a week for 11 months a year. This will be supported by an additional $1,000 credit per person to the Job Services Australia Employment Pathway Fund, boosting the resources available for this group
- $5 million for a pilot to test innovative ways that employment services could be provided to support disadvantaged jobseekers.
Number of unemployment benefit recipients by duration of time on benefit
Source: Australian Government Administrative Data.
Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.