JobSeeker payment boost may extend beyond September
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann hasn’t ruled out keeping the JobSeeker dole payment above $40 per day beyond September.
JobSeeker was increased by $550 per fortnight in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The enhanced JobSeeker is due to expire in September along with other stimulus measures like the JobKeeper wage subsidies.
“We are clearly now having conversations on how we can most appropriately transition out of the elevated levels of temporary support, including through the enhanced JobSeeker program,” Cormann told Sky News on Friday.
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“We are currently discussing how best to transition into the longer-term arrangements.”
Before the coronavirus pandemic, welfare and business groups, Labor, the Greens, economists and the Reserve Bank had long called for a rise in the dole payment, formerly called Newstart.
Aside from indexation, the unemployment benefit has not increased in 25 years.
