Anglicare Australia lays out plan for long-term unemployed

Australia’s long-term unemployment has barely budged, but a major charity network has a plan to help people back into work.

Entry level jobs are vanishing, and with them, opportunities for people experiencing long-term unemployment — but long-term unemployment can be eased using a combination of demand and supply-side interventions, says one of Australia’s largest charitable networks.

In a new report titled Creating Jobs, Creating Opportunity, Anglicare Australia recommends the creation of new employment and training opportunities, an overhaul of Workforce Australia, and an increase in income support payments to help the long-term unemployed to find work.

The report notes that those facing long-term unemployment are not reaping the benefits of Australia’s labour force boom.

“This has created a dichotomy: long-term unemployment remains stubborn while unemployment overall declines,” the report states, adding “those with barriers to work are still without a job”.

What is the problem?

The paper found that long-term unemployment has barely budged even as the unemployment rate has dropped.

Entry-level vacancies have declined, but there are 15 people across Australia competing for each entry-level job.

One in ten people don’t have recent experience or qualifications or have other barriers to work such as age or disability, and spend around five years looking for a job.

And according to the report, people who are unemployed for five or more years are much less likely ever to find work again.

“The push for full employment will not be possible simply by growing the pie, or assuming that every person is qualified for every vacancy,” the paper states.

See more: The unemployment rate and the jobs market

Executive director of Anglicare Australia said although Australia’s low unemployment rate has been “hailed as a triumph”, long-term unemployment is “stubborn”.

“Even in a surging market, the same people are missing out. The right jobs aren’t there for the people who need them, and they are stuck in a system that punishes them instead of helping them.

“The jobs they need – entry-level roles – are disappearing from the job market. No amount of interviews, online tasks, or red tape or punishment will change that fact.”

What are the solutions?

On the demand side, Anglicare Australia recommends a focus on the creation of entry-level pathways. The aged and disability care sector in particular could be a target for this.

But the report cautions that although roles in the care sector “are meaningful jobs, in a growth industry, with a solid career trajectory”, they must be “permanent, secure roles, with competitive wages and good conditions”.

“Governments have shied away from job creation, but we found that the market simply isn’t creating the jobs people need. They should be creating entry-level opportunities in growing industries, like aged and disability care, that can lead to long-term careers,” Chambers said.

Other areas ripe for job creation are in manufacturing and local councils or businesses.

“It is clear that government investment in job creation has become critical to those who need entry-level pathways. Job creation programs offer pathways for people with barriers to employment. Job creation simply cannot be left to an already failing market,” the report states.

On the supply side, the paper recommends Workforce Australia be overhauled.

“This system props up private companies and costs taxpayers millions each year, but it fails at getting people into work,” Chambers explained.

The report points to research by Anglicare Australia showing that “in spite of a high level of compliance with Centrelink obligations and jobseeking activities, many respondents did not consider these activities to be useful in helping them find work”.

Instead, Chambers said, people facing long-term unemployment should be helped to build their long-term skills by “making it easier for them to re-train at TAFE or go back to school”.

The paper points to the early days of the pandemic, when large numbers of people suddenly found themselves out of work and dependent on income support, as evidence that “stringent obligations and activity tests were futile in the face of systemic barriers”.

Additionally, the paper states that income support penalties such as suspensions and cancellations do not help people find work.

Similarly, low income support payments catch long-term jobseekers “in a poverty trap as they navigate a system which is not equipped to help them”.

Low payments act as a “barrier to work”, preventing people from being able to adequately prepare for or travel to interviews.

“We need to lift jobseekers out of poverty. Nobody should be trapped in poverty while they look for work,” Chambers said.

“The Government has made jobs and skills a priority. Our hope is that they will focus on people who need the most help, instead of leaving them behind.”

Read the full report online.