Coronavirus: Women overtake men on JobSeeker registers

For the first time, more women than men will receive unemployment benefits, according to a new Parliamentary Budget Office analysis.

Centrelink in Abbotsford during stage 4 lockdowns in Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty

For the first time, more women than men will receive unemployment benefits, according to new Parliamentary Budget Office analysis that also finds jobless benefit recipients are becoming older, and out of work for longer.

Spending on Newstart last fin­ancial year — rebadged to JobSeeker in March — was almost double the forecast in December, the PBO found, as the recession pushed the number of recipients above 1.4 million and the government increased the rate of payment by $550.

While the number of men and women on JobSeeker increased 92 per cent and 77 per cent between March and May, respectively, the trend over time has been for a larger number of older and female recipients.

“The nature of the JobSeeker recipient population has changed markedly since the early 1990s recession, and even since the GFC,” the PBO said, noting the share of recipients aged 45 years and older had increased from 44 to 56 per cent among females and from 34 to 45 per cent among males between 2007 and 2019.

Share of male recipients has fallen from 74 per cent in 1992 to just above 50 per cent in 2019, a change the report in part put down to increases in the Age Pension qualifying age and the phasing out of “partner payments” that more women had received.

“In the early 1990s and early 2000s, recipients were typically young men in their 20s or 30s,” the report said.

Cassandra Goldie, chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Services, said it was “deeply concerning that so many older women were unable to find paid work even before the COVID-19 crisis hit”.

“It’s vital that the government invests in wage subsidies and training for people who are at risk of long-term unemployment,” she said.

The research also found the share of recipients who had been on JobSeeker for longer than five years had more than doubled to 22 per cent since 2013.