MacroBusiness
Access Subscriber Only Content
In the late 1990s, Australia privatised the system that helps the unemployed find work.
The idea was that by paying employment service providers for each person they placed into a job, the process would become more efficient.
Instead, a parasitic industry developed with around 40 privately run employment agencies earning millions in fees from the unemployed.
There are 1116 words left in this subscriber-only article.
These agencies participate in the federal government’s Jobactive program and receive fees for each jobseeker placed on their books, as well as incentive payments once people find work.
When a job seeker attends their “initial appointment”, the Jobactive provider receives between $266 and $377. For placing an unemployed worker in an approved activity for fifty hours per fortnight (such as Work for the Dole), the provider receives $350. Placing someone into as little as four weeks of paid work nets providers $400. It
The 150-page review, conducted by Boston Consulting Group, looked into the $1bn-a-year Disability Employment Services (Des) program.
The government had further regulated the system in 2018. The result, Boston Consulting Group found, was a windfall for some providers while outcomes for jobseekers went backwards.
The Des program is set up for people whose primary barrier to work is a disability. There is also the larger flagship Jobactive program, whose myriad issues have also been covered by the Guardian.
Three years ago, the government moved to introduce more competition into the Des program. Laudably, it allowed jobseekers to choose their provider â an option not offered to those in the Jobactive scheme.
MacroBusiness
Access Subscriber Only Content
In the late 1990s, Australia privatised the system that helps the unemployed find work.
The idea was that by paying employment service providers for each person they placed into a job, the process would become more efficient.
Instead, a parasitic industry developed with around 40 privately run employment agencies earning millions in fees from the unemployed.
There are 1036 words left in this subscriber-only article.
These agencies participate in the federal government’s Jobactive program and receive fees for each jobseeker placed on their books, as well as incentive payments once people find work.
When a job seeker attends their “initial appointment”, the Jobactive provider receives between $266 and $377. For placing an unemployed worker in an approved activity for fifty hours per fortnight (such as Work for the Dole), the provider receives $350. Placing someone into as little as four weeks of paid work nets providers $400. It
Unpaid carers unfairly miss out on super choice.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from choice.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.