The Government’s $130-billion JobKeeper scheme is helping to keep more than 835,000 businesses afloat and around 5.5 million workers in a job.
Key points:
- The Government says more than 1.4m people are receiving JobSeeker, while JobKeeper covers businesses employing 5.5m workers
- The Grattan Institute estimates the Government will be injecting $120b into the economy between July and September, or 25 per cent of GDP
- Former OECD director Adrian Blundell-Wignall says Australia’s total public debt is relatively small at 47 per cent of GDP
The lucky 13 remaining staff at Sydney eatery The General are amongst those benefitting. Co-owner Dave Moran says there’s no way his businesses would still be running without the Government assistance.
“It’s vital, without it we wouldn’t be able to survive, that’s for sure.”
Through its increased JobSeeker unemployment benefits, the Government is also bankrolling 14 former casuals from The General who hadn’t worked there long enough to qualify for JobKeeper.
Despite being able to ramp up takeaway food and coffee sales, Dave Moran says turnover is down about 35 per cent from losing the lucrative dine-in trade, especially on busy weekends when his wait staff used to serve more than 200 meals a day.
Mr Moran isn’t getting too excited about the recent moves to gradually wind back lockdown measures and social distancing, which include allowing cafes and restaurants to serve a limited number of customers with appropriate social distancing.
Even when larger groups are allowed back into cafes and restaurants, he can’t envisage reopening the dine-in side of the business while social distancing restrictions remain in force.
“That comes with needing to put staff on, so with that comes wage costs, and if there’s social distancing, so only a certain amount of people are allowed in the premises, I wouldn’t be able to create enough revenue to meet those overheads,” he says.
Currently, both stimulus programs are scheduled to run for six months, cutting off around the end of September.
For those on JobSeeker, it will mean a return to “activity tests” of applying for jobs, even if few vacancies exist, and a near halving of their b