July 2024
Unilever to slash a third of office jobs in Europe
The cuts are part of Unilever’s “productivity program” and will slash as many as 7500 roles globally.
May 2024
JobSeeker, JobKeeper cut wealth inequality
Lower-income households benefited the most from early COVID government payments, but higher-income households had the greatest gains in the recovery.
Judge in Lehrmann case slams Ten lawyer’s ‘misleading’ interviews
Justice Michael Lee criticises Ten’s lawyer as he determines how much Bruce Lehrmann should pay in costs; Albanese pledges almost $1 billion for domestic violence victims. Here’s how the day unfolded.
April 2024
Chalmers cautions on calls for welfare cash splash
Releasing a new expert report, Treasurer Jim Chalmers cautions extra help for Australians doing it tough had to be weighed against other fiscal challenges.
November 2023
Calls to add Seek and LinkedIn to government employment services
Australia’s $7.1 billion employment services system no longer represents a coherent or efficient mechanism to help job seekers find work, a review has found.
May 2023
Coalition resolves to back JobSeeker increase
The Coalition will try unsuccessfully to amend the proposed dole increase, then wave it through anyway.
Coalition’s JobSeeker change won’t boost work hours: research
Labor and the federal opposition have traded barbs over a proposal to lift the earnings threshold for Australians on unemployment benefits.
Labor hoses down Dutton’s call to let welfare recipients work more
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says the policy to let JobSeeker recipients work more hours before their pay is docked is a “thought bubble”.
Scrap stage three tax cuts to enable higher JobSeeker payments
The $8 billion-a-year saving from redesigning the compensation for bracket creep can neutralise the fiscal and inflationary impact of a meaningful rise in the dole.
Why Jim Chalmers can’t afford to get the budget wrong
This week in The Fin podcast, political editor Phillip Coorey on what to expect from next week’s federal budget, why this might be the time for brave decisions and what lessons Jim Chalmers can learn from Peter Costello.
Australia to ban recreational vaping
The government will limit vaping to prescriptions for legitimate therapeutic use, calling it a menace to children and public health.
Australians aged over 55 to get welfare boost
The long-term unemployed aged over 55 will be a focus of a welfare increase in the May 9 federal budget. Other age groups will have to wait.
April 2023
Single parent payment to be restored until kids in high school
The Albanese government is considering paying single parents extra welfare until their youngest turns at least 13, up from the current age of eight.
March 2023
In these suburbs, almost no one is unemployed
The hot jobs market will deliver Jim Chalmers a $3 billion windfall, with parts of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane recording rock-bottom rates of unemployment.
October 2022
Privatised jobless support making people less employable: MP
Lazy stereotypes and outdated political rhetoric are hurting employment assistance programs in Australia, the outspoken chairman of a parliamentary review has said.
July 2022
McDonald’s bids for workers with $1000 sign-on bonuses
At least a dozen new staff at the fast food chain’s Chatswood store in Sydney have scored the sum as it resorts to big cash incentives to win staff.
April 2022
Albanese says $1trn debt makes JobSeeker rise untenable
Unemployed Australians will not see a boost to the JobSeeker payment under an Albanese government, after Labor dropped plans to review the rate.
November 2021
Rental affordability worsens as JobSeeker supplement drops away
The loss of social welfare supports that helped many lower-income last year has made rental housing even more expensive – especially given the rush by many to regional Australia.
September 2021
PM to end money for lockdown after 80pc vaccination rate is reached
The Morrison government will pressure the states to open up by turning off emergency financial supports after they reach an 80 per cent vaccination rate.
Employment plummets but jobless rate falls to 4.5pc
Distortions in jobs data caused by lockdowns and government support mean there’s nothing to celebrate in the latest 4.5 per cent jobless figure.