>Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 01:11:54 +1100 (EST) >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) >Mime-Version: 1.0 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Bartlett) >Subject: [workfare] LL:ART: OECD doubts benefits of dole work for jobless >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >The Sydney Morning Herald >http://www.smh.com.au/news/9912/21/text/national11.html > >OECD doubts benefits of dole work for jobless > >Date: 21/12/99 > >By MATT WADE > >Australia's work-for-the-dole scheme impeded unemployed people from gaining >work or acquiring skills which made them attractive to employers, the >Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found. > >In its latest report on Australia, released last night, the OECD said the >scheme, expanded by the Federal Government in this year's Budget, could >affect "the integration of the unemployed into gainful work". > >The Government increased spending on the scheme by $139 million in the >Budget. It has created an extra 65,000 work-for-the dole places this >financial year. > >The OECD report notes the requirement that work-for-the-dole jobs must not >compete with paid employment in the regular labour market. As a result, >unskilled jobs with little potential for training are favoured by the program. > >When it was first introduced in 1997, the scheme targeted job seekers aged >18-24 who had been unemployed for more than six months and required them to >work 24-30 hours per fortnight for six months. > >The program was expanded earlier this year to include school leavers who >had not found work for three months and to 25- to 34-year-olds who had >received unemployment benefits for 12 months. > >The Opposition spokesman on employment and training, Mr Lindsay Tanner, >said: "The fundamental weakness of work for the dole is its inadequate >provision for training, and the OECD assessment confirms that people with >insufficient skills are not receiving adequate training assistance from the >Howard Government." > >The OECD also said more should be done for young school leavers who face >the greatest risk of ending up in dead-end jobs. > >"Many early school leavers remain at considerable risk of being locked into >marginal labour market activities that may not lead to better skills and >employment prospects," the report said. > >It also noted the rate of early school leavers was too high and additional >measures were required to make school curriculums relevant to those at risk >of leaving early. > >The report recommended the broader educational system co-operate more >effectively with vocational training programs such as TAFE. > >The OECD confirmed Australia's good economic performance, noting the >resilience of the economy in the face of the Asian economic crisis last >year. The report forecast growth to continue at 3-4 per cent with >unemployment to fall to 6.5 per cent by 2001. > >However, the report warns that the introduction of the GST could kick off a >sustained higher level of inflation and not simply cause a one-off price >rise as predicted by the Government. > >The OECD identified two potential threats to Australia's long period of >economic growth: a stockmarket crash in the US and the possible evaporation >of the Asian economic recovery. > >The OECD report lent support to the Government's so called "second" and >"third wave" industrial relations reforms, including further simplifying >award conditions and using the corporations powers to create a unified >industrial relations framework. > >This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or >mirroring is prohibited. > > > >************************************************************************* >This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without >permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, >scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal >copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of >the copyright owner, except for "fair use." > > > >-- > > 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 > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- > Workfare-defeat: a list for discussion about the international > resistance to workfare To subscribe, post to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with > "subscribe workfare-defeat" in the BODY of the message > ** This material may be freely distributed, provided this ** > ** footer is included in full. ** >
