Number of Australians on JobKeeper falling ahead of the scheme's end, new figures show
The number of Australian workers that receive JobKeeper has continued to drop, ahead of the scheme coming to an end next month.
New figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) show that 1.54 million employees collected the wage subsidy between October and December last year, compared to 3.6 million between April and September.
Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia reported the largest percentage of workers coming off the payment.
Victoria had the smallest drop and still has the highest number of people on JobKeeper at 626,000 due to the long lockdown during winter last year.
Figures better than expected ahead of program ending
JobKeeper was set to end last year before the Government extended the support, but cut the fortnightly rate and tightened the eligibility.
Treasury initially estimated there would be 2.2 million workers on the payment in the December quarter, however the latest data from the ATO is better than expected.
In October there were 1.63 million workers that received JobKeeper and that dropped to 1.6 million in November before it dipped further to 1.54 million by the end of December.
About 87 per cent of those workers took home the top payment rate of $1,200 a fortnight.
That payment has dropped to $1,000 a fortnight since January but the data on how many people receive that support is not yet available.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has used the figures to back the Government's decision to end JobKeeper on March 28.
"These improvements have been broad based across the country and we have seen encouraging signs across all sectors," he said.
Some sectors are bouncing back better than others
While some industries have bounced back since the height of the pandemic, others are still struggling to find their feet.
The ATO figures showed the number of workers on JobKeeper in retail dropped by 68 per cent, while transport, postal and warehousing still struggled, with only a 36 per cent drop in the number of people on the wage subsidy.
There is no data for the tourism sector as a whole because the industry covers a wide range of jobs, from tour operators, to cafes.
However, accommodation and food services reported a 52 per cent drop in the number of people on JobKeeper and the Treasurer pointed to figures from some key tourism markets to show improvements have been made, such as a 55 per cent drop of workers on the wage subsidy in Cairns and a 59 per cent reduction on the Gold Coast.
"Our Economic Recovery Plan will continue to support the economy through measures such as tax cuts, business incentives, the JobMaker Hiring Credit and a record investment in skills and training," Mr Frydenberg said.
Sectors that rely on the international market such as aviation and tourism have asked the Federal Government for additional help past the March cut-off date.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last Thursday insisted that the JobKeeper program could and would not remain in place for ever.
"The whole point of these programs, whether it's JobKeeper, whether it's HomeBuilder, whether it's the COVID supplement on JobSeeker, all of these were designed as temporary, targeted, proportionate measures to stand in the gap during the crisis and then enable the economy to stand on its own two feet," he said.
The Secretary of the Treasury Department, Dr Steven Kennedy, said on Thursday that he expected some people would be let go when the wage subsidy scheme ended.
"I'd expect it will mean there is some peoples whose employment won't be present, job losses that would come with that," he told a parliamentary hearing that has been examining the Government's response to COVID-19.
He could not put a figure on how many jobs would be lost.
However he said that the "economy is recovering faster than what we anticipated" and Kennedy said he expects the number of people working will increase as restrictions ease and the vaccination rollout begins.
For those without work, the Federal Government is yet to decide what the ongoing rate of JobSeeker will be past March 31.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-14/number-of-australians-on-jobkeeper-falling-ahead-of-scheme-end/13154186
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