Federal, state and territory ministers are wasting no time adapting the new national cabinet process to other portfolios, with workers soon to have their occupational licences recognised nationwide.
Under the reforms a uniform scheme will be created that will allow workers to move from one jurisdiction to another without the need to apply for another licence.
While the announcement follows a recent trend of focusing on tradies, the move will also apply to teachers and real estate agents.
The federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said the Council on Federal Financial Relations, the new treasurer’s body to emerge from the national cabinet system which has replaced the Council of Australian Governments system, would prioritise implementation of the scheme.
It aims to have it take effect from January next year.
“The new framework will cut red tape, drive job creation and allow workers to move more freely around the country to where the work is,” Frydenberg said.
“This will especially assist our tradies to apply their craft around the country without having to get individual licences in each state or territory if they are working across borders.
“This reform sees federal, state and territory governments working cooperatively together to get people back to work as restrictions are eased and our economy reopens.”
Unemployment is estimated to peak at 10% by the end of the year, which is the main driving force of the reforms.
But with workers on the wage subsidy program jobkeeper not counted as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures, and record numbers of people dropping out of the job market altogether, the “real” or unofficial jobless rate was expected to be much higher – peaking at more than 13%.
Governments across the country are desperately looking at ways to drive job growth after the pandemic sent the nation into recession. For the first time in Australia’s history, more than one million people are out of work, available for work and actively looking for work.
Women continue to struggle more than men as part of the pandemic’s employment challenges, with female full-time employment dropping almost 1.5% more than men since February.
But it’s Australia’s youngest and most insecure workers who are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn, with youth unemployment last month measured at 16.3%.
Last month, the ABS recorded Australia’s unemployment rate at 7.5%, two points higher than the same time last year. But the analysis was taken before the stage four lockdowns took hold in Melbourne, which stopped a further 250,000 from being able to go to work.
Overall, the number of unemployed people increased by 15,700 in July, which pushed the number of jobless people north of one million.
An analysis of hours worked by the ABS notes that since the low point in May, total hours worked in Australia have increased by 88 million, recovering almost half of the 186 million decrease recorded between March and May. But the bureau notes that hours worked in July were still 5.5% lower than hours worked in March.
