news, local-news, Rachel Siewert, Mandurah, work for the dole, unemployment

In a Mandurah Mail exclusive, WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert takes on the government's Work for the Dole program, writing that only 2% of the people forced onto the scheme find full-time jobs. Eligible job seekers now have to participate in Work for the Dole for six months each year in order to keep receiving income support. This work is to receive the Newstart or Youth allowance, which (if you’re working up to 25 hours a week) is less than the minimum wage. In June the Government rolled out the revised Work for the Dole program, despite evidence that a previous version of Work for the Dole had largely failed in its objectives. The revised measure claimed to introduce a fresh perspective on the old policy, which would supposedly make people more employable whilst giving work experience. This is apparently to develop the skills that employers want, show they are ready to start work, meet new people, make contacts (who can be a referee) and get involved in their local community. Instead it seems people are being forced to do basic tasks that may not play to their strengths and don't necessarily build skills. An independent report of the revised measure has shown that so far only 2% of the people forced onto the scheme moved into full time employment. For the 98% that were forced to work below the minimum wage who didn’t find a full-time job, this must be particularly bruising. Has the measure failed thus far? Yes. Will the Government abandon it? No. The Government wants people struggling with unemployment to continue to work below the minimum wage for income support until 2020, even though the evidence is coming in that it is highly unlikely to help job seekers get work. A spokesperson for Michaelia Cash said to media: “The Department will continue to work with industry and stakeholders to undertake further research and evaluation on the outcomes of the 2015-2020 programme”. I was not surprised at all that the Work for the Dole outcomes have been poor. Unfortunately (like many people) I didn't think we were going to see lots of people suddenly get work where there were no jobs available, particularly in remote and rural areas. I've heard lots of accounts of the system not working, of there not being real jobs for people, and there being no adequate supervision or training and support. In the release of the latest report into the scheme where just 2% of placements found full-time work, it was found it is harder to find work for people who left school before year 12. We hardly need an analysis to tell us that. What the evidence does show is that strong case management and individual support programs aimed at addressing peoples' barriers to employment are more likely to work. To cut a long story short, we need to be treating people as individuals. That is not say that work experience isn’t important, but it needs to be meaningful, well supervised, mentored and supported. We must move away from tick-the-box programs that are poorly thought out and leave people feeling worse than when they started. What we see in the Government’s compulsory Work for the Dole is a 'one size fits all' approach which hurriedly pushes people into any placement available. We can do so much better than this. We need to stop wasting money on a measure that forces people to work below the minimum wage in jobs that don't lead to employment. We can spend tax payers money far better and genuinely help people into employment. It's time to make space for individualised support, for mentoring; it's time to properly train and work out what people need in order to become attached to work. Let's use the advice of the experts and evidence to get this right. Rachel Siewert is a senator for Western Australia.

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