5 charts on what a Newstart recipient really looks like
- Written by Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute
The Newstart unemployment benefit is all over the news. It’s the subject of a Senate inquiry. Today it will take evidence in Elizabeth, in what used to be Adelaide’s industrial north.
Should it be higher? Should recipients be paid with a cashless card? Or drug tested? Or stripped of their payments if they join climate protests?
To make sense of these proposals it helps to know something about who receives Newstart payments. It’s a picture many of us get wrong.
Read more: Are most people on the Newstart unemployment benefit for a short or long time?
Here’s a heads-up. They are not particularly likely to be young, they are are not especially likely to be men, and more live in regional areas than we might expect.
Here are some facts to give us something to work with, set out in five charts:
Likely to be middle aged
First, Newstart recipients are a lot older than you might think.
Half are over 45. Partly this is because unemployed people aged 24 or younger are more likely to be getting Youth Allowance.
But even if we include unemployed Youth Allowance recipients in the figure, an outsized 45% of all unemployment benefit recipients are over 45. One quarter are over 55.
Women on Newstart are older still: 51% of female job-seekers are over 40, compared with 42% of male job-seekers.
DSS Payment Demographics, March 2019They are older on average than five years ago.
Over the five years to March 2019, the number of people on Newstart aged over 45 swelled by one fifth, and the number over 55 by two fifths. At the same time the number under 45 fell by 16%.
The increase in the number of older people on Newstart has coincided with a sharp decline in the number of older people receiving the Disability Support Pension.
Tighter assessment measures since 2012 have led to a decline in the number of people being assessed as eligible for the Disability Support Pension, forcing many declined applicants on to Newstart.
Less likely to live in big cities
People from the biggest states are less commonly on Newstart.
Someone from Victoria, NSW, or the ACT is about one third less likely to be on Newstart than someone from the rest of the country.
Authors: Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute
Read more http://theconversation.com/5-charts-on-what-a-newstart-recipient-really-looks-like-125937