ASSISTANCE is on hand for disadvantaged job seekers with the government planning to spend $213.5M, over four years, in an effort to expand the existing Local Jobs Program.
The aim is to improve job seeker’s skills and help them gain employment through expanding the program across 51 regions.
Wage subsidies for eligible jobseekers on job active, Transition to Work and ParentsNext payments will also be increased to $10,000, in an effort to encourage employers to hire disadvantaged people.
The government’s ‘New Employment Services Model’ is set to replace jobactive, and give job seekers the ability to choose between digital or face-to-face support services.
As part of this reshuffle, the existing New Business Assistance program within the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme will also be receiving an extra $129.8M in a bid to encourage individuals who want to start their own business.
The New Business Assistance currently offers support payments to 12,000 individuals working on their own businesses.
The new funding will pay for an additional 1,000 places in the New Business Assistance stream and another 350 places in the ‘Exploring Being My Own Boss Workshop’ program.
The government will also spend $6.2M over two years to run as many as 26 physical and virtual job fairs over a 12-month period to help boost employment figures.
