Huge jobs losses expected tomorrow as government wrestles to rescue the economy
Tomorrow’s jobs figures are expected to see a dramatic rise in unemployment to 7.6 per cent for June – and with all eyes on next week’s announcements on JobKeeper and JobSeeker, there will be much speculation about what happens next.
The figures seem certain to add fresh fire to the controversial debate over whether government support is saving jobs or creating unemployment.
The May figure was already the highest since 2001, with 835,000 jobs lost in just one month. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg revealed this week that Australia’s real unemployment rate could be as high as 13.3 per cent, far higher than the official rate.
The official figures do not include those workers who have stopped looking for employment during the pandemic.
Mr Frydenberg revealed the true extent of unemployment in Australia on Monday, saying: “[It is] around 13.3 per cent right now. That is a large number of people reflecting the economic challenges that we see right now.
“We also have seen a big reduction in hours worked in the months since the COVID pandemic first hit in Australia.”
This admission comes ahead of the government’s mini budget, due July 23.
Scott Morrison claimed two weeks ago that there are plenty of jobs available, but workers are refusing to take them because of generous government support. “We are getting a lot of anecdotal feedback from small businesses, even large businesses,” he told 2GB radio at the end of June.
“Some of them are finding it hard to get people to come and take the shifts because they’re on these higher levels of payment.”
Fund manager Magellan’s founder Hamish Douglass claimed unemployment levels around the world were being artificially held down by various payroll protection programs. And they hadn’t stopped a record 20 million Americans losing their jobs.
“There’s a lot of medium-sized and small businesses that are being paid by government to keep their employees on the payroll at the moment,” Douglass reportedly said.
“The unemployment statistics don’t tell you the real level of unemployed. A lot of these companies don’t have any intention of keeping some of these people on the payrolls once government support disappears.”
Mr Frydenberg said: “[There will be a] second phase of income support. It will be governed by the same principles that have defined our economic measures to date, namely that our support will be targeted, it will be temporary, it will be designed based on existing systems and it will also be demand driven,”
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