http://www.smh.com.au/news/9907/02/national/national1.html Friday, July 2, 1999 Unemployed scorn job agency By TOM ALLARD in Canberra More than a quarter of a million dole recipients have not registered with a Job Network agency in the 13 months since the scheme was introduced, a result described by the Federal Government as a "disappointing failure" by the jobless. The same lack of enthusiasm is affecting the other signature Government jobs program - work for the dole. Ten per cent of projects are unable to fill places. One Wesley Mission project involving regeneration work at Mangrove Mountain on the Central Coast attracted only seven participants, despite the availability of 500 eligible unemployed in the local catchment area. Of the 50,000 who went for a "mutual obligation" interview in the 10 months to April, which required them to nominate some sort of training, volunteer or part-time work to keep their benefits, fewer than 28,000 actually undertook an activity. And fewer than 10,000 of those fulfilled their obligations through a Government-sponsored work for the dole, job search or literacy and numeracy program. The Minister for Employment Services, Mr Abbott, outlined the statistics to back up his crusade against "job snobs" and the "culture of welfare dependency" that he claims is keeping the unemployment rate high despite a booming economy. There are just under 615,000 people receiving unemployment benefits, according to Centrelink. Complaints about the slow pace of referrals convinced the Government to make it compulsory for those on the dole to sign with a Job Network agency or face losing 18 per cent of their benefits. The policy, which came into effect in March, has brought referrals back to the levels achieved by the CES. Of the 28,000 long-term unemployed identified as eligible for "intensive assistance" under the Job Network in October, only 14,000 actually began training. Yet only 1,000 of them lost payments. Mr Abbott said the majority of problem clients (or potential clients) for Job Network were "habituated to life on welfare" and have "become virtual prisoners of the welfare system". He described the moderate take-up of work for the dole as "a disappointing reluctance by some job-seekers to make the most of a new system which is better at getting people into jobs". Wesley Mission's superintendent, the Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, said much of the difficulty in filling places came with inappropriate referrals from Centrelink. For the Mangrove Mountain project, which required 50 people, 74 names were referred, 49 people were contacted and 35 signed up. Some found jobs and went into training subsequently but a number were "zonked out on drugs and alcohol" and only seven actually took part. "They were great and got a lot out of it," Dr Moyes said. "They came down to Sydney to clean up after the hailstorms and then came back to Mangrove Mountain to deal with the thousands of dead chickens caused by Newcastle disease." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
