As JobKeeper and JobSeeker support is wound back, will the region’s economy fall off a cliff?

There’s nervous signs in the Northern Rivers’ economy as JobSeeker and JobKeeper is wound up.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos FEBRUARY, 02, 2021: Signage at a Centrelink and Medicare centre in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

There is a pervading nervousness the Northern Rivers' economy is going to fall off a cliff once the JobKeeper and JobSeeker coronavirus support payments end in the next few days.

JobKeeper ends on Sunday and the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement of $150 per fortnight ends on March 31.

We know that thousands of businesses on the Northern Rivers have continued to access JobKeeper right up until the last moment.

So what happens Monday? Do hundreds of people lose their job and will long lines form outside Centrelink once again?

The government is pulling the economic levers, weaning businesses and workers off support payments, in the hope the economy has picked up sufficiently to provide the safety net.

Anecdotally, we know that some sections of the Northern Rivers' economy are booming, just go to Bunnings on the weekend or try and get a tradie to come to your house.

But it's in the tourism, retail, hospitality and agricultural sector that our local economy gets a little interesting.

There are multiple jobs in those sectors and employers simply can't find the labour to fill them.

This has a flow on effect where some hospitality venues would like to open longer hours and serve more people, but they just can't, because they can't find enough workers to fill their rosters.

We've all seen the "positions vacant' signs up in shop windows. Walk any high street and you will see them popping up everywhere.

But are these the 'real' jobs workers go for? The ones with all the bells and whistles like annual leave, sick leave and super, or are they more casual, insecure, minimum wage kind of work?

The high costs of housing, rentals, living and the lack of public transport on the Northern Rivers is also something holding the local economy back.

Rich people can afford to buy or rent here, but the workers in service industries don't earn enough to wait their tables or clean their hotel rooms.

Will potential employees come out of the woodwork on the Northern Rivers when JobSeeker and JobSeeker ends?

The work is there if they want the wages and conditions that come wth it.

Originally published as As JobKeeper and JobSeeker support is wound back, will the region’s economy fall off a cliff?