Tough luck
The federal Coalition government has moved another step along the path of turning Australia into a low wage, low (official) unemployment and low welfare country with its plan to intensify the harassment of unemployed workers receiving unemployment benefits, known as Newstart.
Under the plan, everyone on unemployment benefits will be forced to fill in a dole diary. The number of job applications that must be made to meet the "work test" will increase from two per fortnight to between four (in "high unemployment areas") and 10 (for most people).
Recognising the possibility of an electoral backlash in rural areas, community services minister Larry Anthony said that the requirements for unemployed people in high unemployment areas will not be as stringent.
PM John Howard claims that these requirements are not onerous because there is now "low" unemployment (officially 7%), resulting in labour shortages in some cities, such as Sydney, and regions. He implies that the unemployed in these places do not want to work.
Howard conveniently ignores the fact that labour shortages in Sydney are only in specific occupations and in some industries. For example, there is a shortage of chefs, but that job requires several years of training. There is certainly no labour shortage across the board.
Howard also fails to mention that not all parts of Sydney are "low unemployment areas". While affluent parts of Sydney have low levels of unemployment, the western suburbs have high unemployment rates.
The federal government claims that the unemployment problem is not due to a lack of jobs. The problem, says Anthony, is that unemployed people in the cities have become "dependent" on welfare. They need to be motivated to look for work by the threat of having Newstart withdrawn.
Anthony even raised the old idea that unemployed people should move to low unemployment areas to look for work. Apart from the fact that Anthony is not offering to pay unemployed people's relocation costs, this would simply reshuffle low unemployment areas into high unemployment areas.
Despite the government's attempt to snow us about how low unemployment is, the fact remains that there are not enough jobs for all who want them. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics survey shows that there are eight unemployed people for every job.
The government's real motive is to intimidate unemployed people into taking any job, regardless of how poorly paid and insecure it is. It hopes to create a pool of workers who will bid down wages in order to get a job because they are afraid they will have their Newstart allowance withdrawn.
This is made clear by Anthony's statement that a "low-wage job is better than no job", and that people on Newstart who get part-time work will not have to make as many job applications as other unemployed workers.
But workers need full-time and secure work to obtain an adequate income (some full-time jobs don't provide even that). Once you're caught in part-time work, it is difficult to look for full-time work.
The government's real attitude towards unemployed workers is reflected in Howard's response to the sacking of 342 National Textiles workers when the company went bust. The workers lost their outstanding entitlements despite having previously given up a pay rise in order to help the company survive.
Howard's response was, tough luck, that's "economic reality". There is no suggestion that the government will take any steps to provide alternative employment for those workers, or to ensure they get paid their entitlements.
Forcing unemployed workers to apply for more jobs when there are eight applicants for every job will not result in less unemployment. But it will drive more unemployed workers off Newstart and into low-wage marginal jobs. That's what the government wants, to help batter down the wages and conditions of all workers.
This latest attack on unemployed workers will affect not just the unemployed. It is an attack on all workers.