Australian attitudes to unemployment and unemployed people

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Abstract

Introduction Over the past decade social security policy in Australia towards people of working age has become increasingly conditional on their demonstrating thorough and continuing job search effort. Though work tests have long been part of entitlement to unemployment benefits, the current regime of activity testing has moved well beyond earlier requirements. Initial moves in this direction began under the Labor Government in the mid- 1980s, but have been taken much further by the Coalition Government. In emphasising `mutual obligation' as a guiding principle in recasting social security for the unemployed, the Howard Government argues that it is going with the grain of public opinion. Is this claim justified? Does the policy shift over the last decade reflect a movement in public opinion ? Do Australians support the idea that benefits should only be available on condition that unemployed people demonstrate ever greater job search effort: and, if so, does this apply across the board or only to particular groups of the unemployed? More generally, what does the public see as the responsibilities of government towards the unemployed? In fact we know little about how Australians view the balance between rights and obligations for unemployed people, although we do have more attitudinal evidence on broader questions relating to unemployment and public support for job seekers. This article is mainly based on that evidence. We begin by briefly outlining the changes in social security policy towards the unemployed in the last decade. We then review evidence from polls and attitudinal surveys on changes over time in the significance of unemployment as a social problem, the responsibilities of government, and public attitudes towards activity testing. The policy shift from entitlement to obligation The first distinct elements of the new framework of support for unemployed people emerged from Labor's Social Security Review (Cass 1988). In line with the `active society' policy framework promoted by the OECD (Gass 1988; OECD 1990), the new emphasis on active job search was signalled by changes in the nomenclature of payments, from the `passive' Unemployment Benefit to the more `active' Newstart and Job Seekers' Allowance. Under the initial Newstart strategy, from 1991, intensive individualised job seeker interviews were introduced, and sanctions for noncompliance increased. From 1994, Labor's Working Nation policy expanded labour market programs and introduced a job placement guarantee, along with `case management' for the long-term unemployed, and individual activity agreements. In return, stronger penalties were introduced for job seekers judged not to have met their obligations. When the Coalition Government took office in 1996 there was a move away from labour market programs and job guarantees toward greater levels of obligation on the part of the job seeker, including a strengthening of the activity test. This included a requirement to provide more details of job search activity; an increase in the issuing of Employer Contact Certificates -- used to verify job seekers' approaches to prospective employers; and the introduction of the Jobseeker Diary, for recording efforts to find work. Penalties for non-compliance with activity testing were again increased. The Coalition's second term has seen further emphasis placed on the principle of `mutual obligation', typified by the expansion of `Work for the Dole' from a program only for the young unemployed to one covering those aged up to 34. In January 1999 the Government also announced that young unemployed people with literacy and numeracy problems would be obliged to undertake remedial courses or face penalties. Another dimension of change has been the progressive contracting out of employment assistance to private and non-government agencies. This culminated in 1998 with the creation of a quasi-market system of competitive tendering and payment by results (the Job Network). …