Australia’s unemployment payment has fallen so far behind the pension it now amounts to only 68% of the payment, a new research paper released today by ACOSS has revealed.
A person aged 67 who is eligible for the Age Pension receives $600 a week but a 66-year-old who loses their job receives just $409 a week to cover the same basic living costs.
In the 1970s, JobSeeker and the Pension were paid at the same rate and by the early 90s, JobSeeker was still around 90% of the Pension. In 1997, the Howard Government legislated pensions to be benchmarked to 25% of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings, but left unemployment payments out of that legislation.
Pensions have risen in line with wage growth many times while JobSeeker has not, and the pension was increased in real terms by more than $30 a week in 2009. Now the pension is 60% of the minimum wage while JobSeeker is just 40.6%.
ACOSS is calling on the Federal Government to raise the JobSeeker rate to two thirds of the minimum wage, maintaining the reward for paid work while lifting people out of poverty.
“A 66-year-old and a 67-year-old face exactly the same rent, grocery bill and energy costs. There is no reason one of them should be living on $191 a week less than the other,” said ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie.
“Woefully low income support is causing physical and mental harm and trapping people in a cycle of poverty and deprivation.
“People who receive JobSeeker are skipping meals and forgoing essential medications just to keep a roof over their heads.
“We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet successive governments choose to keep 3.7 million people living in poverty. We know how to fix this problem, we just need politicians to act.”
A survey this year by ACOSS and UNSW Sydney found almost nine in ten (87%) people agreed that unemployment payments should be enough so people don’t have to skip meals.
Support for action crosses party lines, with 86% of Greens voters, and 68% of Labor and Liberal/National voters agreeing that people who receive unemployment payments do not deserve to live in poverty.
“More people than ever are acutely aware of the level of financial distress in our communities. Support payments are too low to live on and must be increased,” Dr Goldie said.
