Federal government’s $4bn JobMaker hiring credit has created just one job in the NT

The federal government’s JobMaker hiring credit has supported just one job in the Northern Territory so far.

THE federal government’s JobMaker hiring credit has supported just one job in the Northern Territory so far.

Announced in October last year, the $4bn hiring credit package was aimed at getting Australians aged 35 and younger into work amid the COVID-19 slump with the government estimating it would support 450,000 jobs by year’s end.

But Senate Estimates this week revealed the program was significantly under subscribed, with just 609 jobs supported so far.

Of those, only one is in the Northern Territory. The government has pointed to better than expected economic recovery and correspondingly low unemployment rates as a factor behind the sluggish uptake.

Federal Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

But they have also acknowledged the application process can be cumbersome.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers (pictured) seized on the data and reiterated concerns the narrow age range of JobMaker could “single out and sacrifice workers over 35”.

Those concerns are exacerbated amid the impending end of the JobKeeper stimulus this Sunday.

“JobMaker is a total croc,” he said. “The much-hyped centrepiece of the Morrison government’s budget has delivered less than 1 per cent of the 450,000 jobs the Coalition promised.”