with
BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SCIENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR GORTON

New ABS data today confirms that around 600,000 payroll jobs have been lost since the virus outbreak.
 
The devastation in the job market is being exacerbated by growing uncertainty for businesses and workers about the future of key Government support programs, including JobKeeper, HomeBuilder and JobSeeker.
  
The Morrison Government has decided to keep the JobKeeper review secret for weeks now, and the uncertainty of this delay is seeing businesses already making financial decisions and laying off workers.
 
Today’s Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia by the ABS shows that since 14 March:

• The Australian economy shed 600,000 payroll jobs.
• Payroll jobs have dropped by 5.7 per cent and total wages paid has fallen 3.2 per cent.
• Payroll jobs for women declined by 6.0 per cent and male payroll jobs decreased by 5.4 per cent.
• Payroll jobs in the accommodation and food services sector decreased by 21.2 per cent and fell by 18.1 per cent in the arts and recreation industries.
• Payroll jobs worked by people aged under 20 decreased by 8.6 per cent and those worked by people aged 70 and over fell by 8.7 per cent.

Some of the hardest-hit industries are those that have disproportionately been excluded from JobKeeper.
 
The biggest job losses have been concentrated in hospitality and the arts, with young Australians, elderly Australians and women hardest hit.
 
Unemployment is worse than it needs to be, the recession is deeper than necessary, and the recovery will be that much harder because Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg are failing to give workers and businesses certainty about their plans after their September “snapback” deadline.

Having introduced support for the economy too narrowly and too slowly, Australians can't afford for the Government to withdraw that support too quickly or too bluntly.
 
Vulnerable workers, businesses and communities need and deserve a comprehensive plan to get them through the recovery and alleviate some of the understandable anxiety in the community.
 
TUESDAY, 14 JULY 2020