Hopefully next week’s national jobs summit will help to unravel some of the problems around skills and chronic worker shortages. Department of Social Services data reveals that more than 892,000 people are receiving JobSeeker or Youth Allowance payments with the average time a person is on income support now 293 weeks – three or four years and more. The average duration of a mature age recipient on income support is now 344 weeks. The Australian newspaper reports that welfare payments are now stuck at levels higher than before the COVID pandemic. A quick chat to any employer in Narrabri Shire, or anywhere in Australia, reveals they have been seeking staff for a long time. How to help, retrain or incentivise people to re-enter the workforce? That’s the issue facing the Jobs and Skills Summit.
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