Work for the dole programs have led to just a 2% increase in the number of participants securing full-time employment, a new report has found.
The Social Research Centre has compiled a report for the Department of Employment on the work for the dole pilot program. The pilot ran in 18 locations around Australia and was open to participants aged between 18 and 29.
The report found a 7% increase for part-time and casual employment and a 2% increase in full-time employment for participants.
A spokesman for the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, said the statistics are not representative as many people were still engaged in the pilot program when the report was written.
“A more accurate assessment of the impact on the employability of jobseekers who have participated in work for the dole would need to be undertaken after the completion of their participation in the program,” he told Guardian Australia.
“The evaluation assessed the experience of jobseekers from July to December 2014. Only a small number of jobseekers would have completed the work for the dole program during this time.”
Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the rate of people moving off welfare was “sluggish” and proved there was a serious problem with the compulsory nature of work for the dole programs.
“Compulsory work for the dole should be abandoned and a more nuanced approach taken,” she said.
“If the government is scratching its head about the sluggish and low movement into employment for work for the dole, I’d suggest there are a number of reasons: the jobs just aren’t there particularly in regional and remote areas, and the program doesn’t address peoples’ barriers to work or meet individual needs.
“Work for the dole is a simplistic, one-size-fits-all response to unemployment. Past experiences show the regime is not effective for most people and that people cycle in and out of programs because they’re not getting the support they need to enter the workforce.”
But the report found that a high percentage of participants valued the program. Nearly seven out of 10 participants – 68% – thought it was a valuable experience, and two-thirds thought their “soft” employment skills, such as self-confidence and ability to work in a team, had improved as a result of undertaking the program.
A further 83% said that the program was an opportunity to give back to the community.
Cash’s spokesman said getting people into paid work was not the main focus of the program.
“It is important to note that work for the dole is not a job placement program,” he said.
“The goal of work for the dole is to provide jobseekers with work experience to build their employability skills, to help young jobseekers gain the skills and experience they need to move from welfare to work as soon as possible.”
In March this year Tony Abbott said work for the dole encouraged people to get paid work.
“It is always better to get the next job if you have got a job now. It is always better to have some job than to have no job,” the-then prime minister said.
“If you are working, you are having a go. That is why the nearest thing to work we can get you, whether it is a short-term job or indeed work for the dole, is an important step in the right direction because you are having a go.”
Abbott was slammed for comments telling businesses to “try before they buy” when it comes to employing long-term unemployed people under a proposal that would effectively give them a month of work experience.
The government abandoned plans to force people under the age of 30 to wait for six months and undertake 25 hours a week of work for the dole, training or education before accessing unemployment benefits in its last budget.
The compromise proposal, to make under-25s wait an additional four weeks on top of the existing one week waiting period, is languishing in the Senate. The bill looks unlikely to secure the support of the crossbench which it needs in order to pass.
