The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) has recently reported some distressing figures. The levels of long-term unemployment in this country are at an all-time high, with as many as 826,000 individuals needing income support over the past year.
This is more than double initial record highs that were seen in the 1991 recession.
Understandable, owing to the economic impact of COVID-19. The subsequent complete lockdowns of communities that it has caused in an effort to support the health system has had a devastating effect on the financial welfare of businesses and individuals alike.
We are grateful for the financial support that the Australian government has provided, both to individuals looking to continue stability in their lives, but also to businesses, looking to keep staff employed and their business able to run again once restrictions ease.
2022 hopefully is a year that sees a lifting of many restrictions. This includes our borders, enabling tourism to inject welcome money back into our economy. We are gearing up to recover.
However, ACOSS does provide statistics regarding those who have been unemployed for certain periods of time. For those who have been unemployed for less than 3 months their chances of finding work again are more than 50%.
Those unemployed for more than 2 years have only about a 25% chance of finding work.
At this point in time, for every job vacancy, there are about 6 jobseekers. Aware of the impact that COVID-19 has had on the tourism and hospitality sectors, you can expect that there is a disproportionate number of unemployed who have specific skills all in similar fields.
Also, those with these skills are finding it difficult to find employment, as such businesses are currently not in the position of growth.
We saw from the 1991 recession that drastic changes and large investments were made to combat long-term unemployment and we may be able to expect the same innovative approach in this situation to support both businesses and individuals struggling to again find work.
In the short term however, the government needs to focus on the wellbeing of these individuals and to ensure that their immediate needs are met. It can be an incredibly difficult time with so much uncertainty but we are confident that the Australian government and our communities are able to find a path towards a healthier economic future.
If we could both retrain those looking for a career change and also enable businesses to reopen in the coming six months, we may be able to see a swift change in the rate of unemployment in this country.
Call YBM at our Orange office on 02 6362 1533 or our Molong office on 02 6366 8049 to discuss your business today!