Jessica applies for 50 jobs a month and battles to survive on Newstart, with nothing left after bills and rent
News.com.au
Newstart a national embarrassment — ACOSS and Deloitte
Newstart hasn't increase in real terms for over 24 years. At less than $40 a day, the report argues for an increase of $10 a day.
Jessica will apply for up to 50 jobs over the course of May, as she does every month.
The 22-year-old will juggle that gruelling search with a terrifying battle to survive on a paltry sum that leaves her with virtually nothing after the cost of rent, bills and groceries.
“It’s so hard to make ends meet,” Jessica told news.com.au. “No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get ahead.”
She shares a unit in Frankston in Melbourne’s south with her grandmother and the pair splits expenses like a regular share house.
Jessica, who hopes to start study at TAFE in July and eventually become a registered nurse, told news.com.au she received $600 each fortnight from Centrelink, comprising the Newstart unemployment benefit and rent assistance.
From that, $250 goes to housing, $150 to food, $20 for public transport, $30 for a home internet connection, $20 for prepaid phone credit and $10 for miscellaneous minor expenses.
She has a longstanding debt that she’s slowly chipping away at and is trying to save up for study.
“I recently just got a Centrelink loan so it’s gone down again,” Jessica explained.
“I had a few big bills I had to pay. I was hoping to put (the loan) towards getting a cheap car but the bills chewed it all up.”
From news.com.au
Jessica battles to make ends meet on Newstart.
Much of her time is spent trawling job websites and Facebook groups where casual vacancies are posted, filling out applications, sitting assessments and hoping for an interview.
“I apply for maybe 40 or 50 jobs a month. I get the odd interview here or there but just can’t get someone to give me a go,” she said.
“I don’t think people want to hire 22-year-olds for a job that they can pay a 16-year-old to do for much less.
“I’ve had bits and pieces of work over the past few years but not much. I might get waitressing for a few hours a week here or there. It’s hard to find a stable job that pays enough to survive.”
Low-skilled work is hard to come by and there’s often strong competition for jobs that don’t have guaranteed hours, meaning an added layer of uncertainty.
Jessica will do “pretty much anything” at this point. She’s open to any kind of paid work in whatever industry will take her.
“But transport is the big thing. You need your own transport to get to a lot of jobs. Trains and buses aren’t always reliable if you need to start early or finish late. The buses aren’t running.
“How do you get home late at night from work? I can’t afford a cab. Do I walk home at 11pm or midnight, on my own in the dark?”
And there’s simply not enough work to go around, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing there’s just one vacancy on average for every eight jobseekers.
A campaign is under way to urgently increase Newstart and to change the framework surrounding it. Picture: AAPSource:AAP
While our unemployment is low, experts say Australia is in the grips of an underemployment crisis, where people have to multiple casual or part-time jobs to make ends meet.
The unemployment benefit Newstart, which up to 800,000 people receive, effectively hasn’t increased for more than 20 years but during that time, the cost of living has soared and anyone who needs welfare is likely to struggle just to survive.
Conny Lenneberg, the executive director of the charity the Brotherhood of St Laurence, which runs the Share the Pie campaign to increase Newstart, said most people cope by eating less.
“People have no choice but to do without,” Ms Lenneberg said.
“They’re increasingly leaning on the charitable sector for support. We’ve seen a growth in the number of food banks over the past decade. We’ve seen increasing reliability on homelessness and housing support services. We’re seeing worsening mental health.
“It’s just not acceptable for one of the wealthiest countries in the world to ignore a very broadbased recognition that Newstart is set at a level that’s not sufficient.”
Community groups and even the business community are now calling for the government to urgently lift the payments.
Even former Prime Minister John Howard said the amount is inadequate and should be increased.
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