News

In early December, Anglicare Australia released the annual Jobs Availability Snapshot (JAS), a report that reveals what the job market is really like for people experiencing the greatest barriers to work. Barriers include qualification attainment, work experience, re-entering the workforce after a long break, or living in regional or remote areas.

The JAS measures how many jobs are available nationally for people experiencing barriers to work, and like previous reports, this year’s findings continue to paint a harsh picture, revealing that the job market is locking the same people out of work every year due to a lack of entry-level jobs.

Competition for entry level-jobs is so strong that according to the JAS there are 33 people competing for every entry-level job.  Furthermore, around two-thirds (62%) of people out of work are long-term unemployed and spend almost four years looking for work.

These circumstances are exacerbated by an employment services system that is more punitive than supportive of people seeking work.  Government strategies focus on short courses and mutual obligation that impede people’s ability to gain employment instead of building long-term skills that secure meaningful work.

What the JAS makes clear is that the inability to find work is not a matter of individual failure but systemic failure.  Australians are not given equal opportunities for employment, something that Anglicare WA’s services have been seeing on the ground for many years. That is why Anglicare WA is calling on the government to:

• raise the rate of Jobseeker to at least $80 p/day and other income support so that people are not trapped in poverty while they look for work; and
• reform the employment services system so that employment pathways are personalised, flexible, and place-based like our Hopscotch program.

To learn more about Anglicare WA’s other cost of living and economic relief election asks, please click here. If you require financial support, please click here.