Australia must seize a historic opportunity of low unemployment to secure jobs and lift wages which will boost the economy for future generations, welfare advocates say.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Ahead of the federal government's jobs and skills summit, to be held in Canberra on Thursday and Friday, the Australian Council of Social Service has released its wishlist of policy considerations.
Australia's historically low unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent is unlikely to remain unless the government acts, and a commitment to full employment must be at the heart of any reform, ACOSS acting chief Edwina McDonald said.
"We've still got 935,000 people who are trying to survive on unemployment payments ... who are currently being overlooked by employers and locked out of paid work," she said.
"Long term unemployment remains an issue ... we need to not just deal with the issues we're facing today, we need to be dealing with what's coming up ahead of us."
The council is proposing the government implement a jobs and training guarantee for people who experience long-term unemployment.
This would replace the work for the dole and employability skills training schemes which the council argues are ineffective and built to humiliate people.
"If we are honest with ourselves we would admit programs such as work for the dole are more about crude, punitive victim-blaming than about actively connecting people with employment," Ms McDonald said.
"An annual job and training offer turns this thinking on its head. It recognises that it is legitimate and desirable for government to actively prepare people for work and connect them with opportunities."
A paper released ahead of the summit outlines subsidised employment, paid work trials and vocational training as alternatives to existing schemes to help people overcome barriers to employment.
It also calls for the rate of the JobSeeker payment to be lifted from $46 to $70 a day to lift people out of poverty while they search for full employment.
The summit will bring 100 business, union and community representatives together to discuss ways to address Australia's economic challenges and inform the government's employment framework.
Australian Associated Press
