LONG-TERM unemployment is a “national emergency” that has more than tripled in the past three years, according to data that shows more than 350,000 Australians have been living on the dole for more than two years.
Data provided through Senate estimates reveals that, in March, 355,876 people had been on the Newstart Allowance payment for more than two years, up from 106,491 in June 2011.
As the majority of the increase in long-term unemployment occurred in the final two years of the Gillard-Rudd governments,
Employment Minister Eric Abetz last night blamed Labor for the surge. “This is the Labor-Greens government legacy and highlights why the government is so absolutely focused on creating more job opportunities for Australians by getting the economy back in shape,” Senator Abetz said.
“Regrettably, our first nine months in government were frustrated by the Labor-Greens majority in the Senate. Having created the mess, they refused to help us clean it up.
“Their manic and destructive commitment to the carbon tax and the mining tax has delayed the economic recovery and jobs growth we are seeking to implement.”
National Welfare Rights Network president Maree O’Halloran said the surge in the number of people out of work for more than two years was alarming.
“Many of these 355,000 jobseekers have been living lives of unseen desperation on manifestly inadequate social-security support,” Ms O’Halloran said. She said the influx of 52,000 single parents on to the Newstart Allowance, after the Gillard government changed the eligibility for the single Parenting Payment, had clearly had an impact.
“Nevertheless, it does not account for the huge increase in the numbers of people who have been out of work for such lengths of time,” she said. “The extent of long-term unemployment is a national emergency and it needs more than populist fixes like work for the dole.
“The shocking rates of youth unemployment and this growth in long-term unemployment requires government, business and unions to work together to give skills, jobs and hope to people locked out of the labour market.’’
There were 695,907 Newstart Allowance recipients as of March 28 this year. Of these, 204,025 — 29.2 per cent — were older than 50.
Two-thirds of all recipients have been on the payment for more than 12 month and 76.1 per cent of all unemployed people on Newstart are single.
There are 14,717 single parents reliant on the Newstart Allowance. One in six people living on Newstart are raising children on their own, one in 10 are indigenous, and one in five have a disability and are on Newstart, with a partial capacity to work.
“As a nation, we need to get serious about finding workable solutions,” Ms O’Halloran said. “Everyone knows that there just aren’t sufficient employment opportunities of every person who desperately wants (a job).
“On the back of these numbers, it would be a misguided government that persisted in denying income support to some jobseekers under 30 for any period of time (existing waiting periods aside).”