Get working-age people off dole

Subsisting on handouts is no way to live, which is why the news that 1.282 million Australians of working age are living on welfare is deeply disturbing. In an indictment of the economy and public administration under the Albanese government, the numbers reliant on taxpayer handouts is higher than when Labor entered office in May 2022. The number of working-age Australians relying on welfare increased by 126,880 between September 2023 and January this year, and single parenting payment recipients increased by almost 38,000. While worsening under Labor, the problems stretch back to past governments too.

Department of Social Services data reveals 68,125 people have been on the JobSeeker payment for more than 10 years, another 123,215 for five to 10 years, and 190,845 for two to five years. Those numbers point to significant pockets of citizens disengaged from the economy, and entrenched intergenerational welfare dependence, pointing to the need for effective carrot-and-stick policies to encourage as many as possible to seek work. Lack of skills, including poor literacy judging by NAPLAN results, and lack of preparation for work are also serious problems, especially when many employers experience skills and labour shortages, and look to immigrants to fill positions.

Nor have ill-advised governance changes helped. In September 2023, the Albanese government reclassified 65,000 JobSeeker recipients under the Parenting Payment Single category after extending eligibility to single principal carers with a youngest dependent child under 14 years, up from eight years. Making eligibility for the payment easier was a mistake. Many single parents hold down busy jobs when their children are younger than 14, setting a good example to those children by doing so. Creating extra incentives for them to sit at home is a bad move.

With unemployment hovering near historic lows, Jim Chalmers boasts of “the lowest average unemployment of any government in the last 50 years”.

Low unemployment is good economic news. It suggests a buoyant economy and helps keep welfare spending in check. The current jobs boom has been driven by the Albanese government increasing its economic footprint, however. As Geoff Chambers and Jack Quail wrote on Saturday, only about one in every four jobs created last year was in the private sector, ABS figures show. Should the ballooning growth in government-backed jobs slow, it risks exposing a much weaker underlying trend in the labour market. Under that scenario, unemployment would rise, adding further pressures to the welfare budget. While the government is under pressure from the Greens, social services advocates and charity groups to lift income support for welfare recipients, it needs to resist.