By Shane Wright
Job hunters will be able to search for work from their home computer or smartphone and be freed from demands to apply for 20 positions a month under the biggest changes to unemployment services in two decades.
Jobs Minister Kelly O'Dwyer will announce the sweeping overhaul of the $1.3 billion-a-year Jobactive system on Wednesday in a pre-election move she says will deliver extra services to Australians struggling to find work and help more employers secure staff.
Kelly O'Dwyer will announce the changes on Wednesday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The new model, which will be tested in Adelaide's southern suburbs and on the NSW Mid North Coast from July ahead of a national rollout, will see most Jobactive services provided through a new digital platform.
The changes follow a report last year which found the current system was wasting time for employers and jobseekers. There is an average of one consultant to 148 job seekers, while the system is being overwhelmed by a staff turnover of 42 per cent.
The new system is aimed to help "self-starter" job seekers, matching them to potential employment opportunities more quickly.
Savings from the change will then be channelled back into Jobactive, with a focus on the long-term unemployed or those with particular requirements such as specialised training or a lack of access to public transport.
Government contracts with 41 private employment service providers will cost the budget more than $6 billion over the next four years.
Ms O'Dwyer stressed people who used the online portal could access face-to-face services if required.
But she said the resources saved by moving more services online would make a critical difference for those who struggle to engage in the workforce.
"The savings from digital servicing will be reinvested to provide a more intensive, targeted and
tailored face-to-face service for those who need extra help, recognising long-term
unemployment has negative impacts on individuals, families and communities," she said.
"There is nothing more important and fundamental to a person’s overall wellbeing than a job. It delivers financial security, independence and opportunity.
"As a government, we cannot consign people to a life of welfare."
The economy and jobs will be key planks of the Morrison government's May re-election pitch, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowing to oversee 1.25 million new positions over the next five years.
An ongoing complaint from the unemployed and businesses has been the requirement for people to submit 20 job applications a month. Jobseekers believe it has become a "tick-a-box" exercise while employers have raised concerns about the costs of dealing with a large number of irrelevant applications.
Under the new system, job applications will continue to be monitored but attention will also be on whether someone looking for work is engaging in training, volunteering or taking on work experience opportunities.
Ms O'Dwyer said the government still believed in mutual obligation but wanted to fine tune the system in a way that helped the unemployed and reduced red tape on employers.
"The community rightly expects that people on welfare will do all they can to find work and mutual obligation requirements remain a central tenet of our approach," she said.
The changes will also extend to making it easier for employers to find sought-after staff.
Information about potential workers, including access to wage subsidies, will be made available on the online portal.
The government believes this will also act as an incentive to the 41 providers in the Jobactive network to improve their services, both to employers and to the unemployed.
Existing provider contracts will be extended by two years with the government set for a national rollout in mid-2022.
Under a Labor plan announced earlier this year, unemployed people would no longer be required to apply for 20 jobs a month, and employment service providers would only need to report back to Centrelink quarterly instead of fortnightly or monthly.