Shape Up or Ship Out!

The Coalition’s message to our unemployed youth and young adults.

The  Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston has announced some “reforms to shift more people off job seeker support and tougher consequences for those who repeatedly do not meet their benefit obligations.”

If you read through her list of tough new measures (which includes cutting the benefit of anyone who does not comply with them) it is clear the underlying assumption is that all these beneficiaries are just a bunch of lazy sods who are milking the welfare system .

“Our welfare system will always be a safety net that catches people if they fall ” she said when announcing the new policy. “ But in the past few years it has become a drag net that has captured too many people who can work and allowed them to languish on Jobseeker Support for too long.”

No doubt there are a few on the Job Seeker benefit who might fit this description but the bald fact is our economy is tightening and there are simply fewer jobs available, especially for young people.