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The Problem of Unemployment in Australia

Julie Farthing has worked in the employment industry for four decades. She more than anyone has the experience to safely predict that the government’s policies aimed at getting unemployed people into the workforce will be nothing but complete failures.

Pulling a dead rabbit out of an old hat: this is how I describe the ludicrous response by the Abbott Government to the ‘problem’ of unemployment.

We have been hearing a lot about their plans for extending ‘Work for the Dole’ placements and increased activity testing (requiring Newstart recipients to search for 20 or so jobs per fortnight). It is clear that they have no idea as to how to really tackle the issues; they have no new ideas – both, and both have been found to have limited success in getting people back to work. Neither of these schemes will actually provide jobs, and with a government hell-bent on destroying our industry, you have to wonder at their logic. (Oh wait, they’re Liberal, they don’t need logic).

I’m waiting for them to tell us exactly how many jobs the new mine will create – not for Australians – for 457 visa holders.

Certainly, it seems that every Australian of working age and beyond has an opinion on the unemployment ‘problem’. I can say, with experience in the employment industry that spans four decades, that most Australians, if given the chance to work and earn a decent wage, would happily take it. Some wouldn’t, of course, and will do anything they can to ‘play the system’. It has been so since time began, and nothing the current government will do will have any effect on this group (which is really quite small, believe me). These are the ‘alternate lifestylers’, the ‘opters-out’ – good luck to them; they are probably doing better than the average Joe these days. I would challenge any government to create a shift in the mentality of those who actually avoid conventional work at all costs, and Abbott and his cronies are not focusing on this group either, so let’s not dwell on them.

Let’s look instead at the vast majority of people who would like to work, if they could; who have tried in the past, and maybe, if they are not yet too disillusioned, are still trying. This includes manufacturing industry workers who have no industry left, and whose skills are not really in demand in any industry. It includes young people who can’t get a start because the basic jobs have all been replaced by technology. It also includes the 18-12 year olds who are under-employed, who can’t get a proper job in retail or hospitality because they employ 15-year olds who are cheaper, then turf them out before their 18th birthday without much to look forward to. It includes people with disabilities, and women with children, who bear the brunt of workplace discrimination. It includes people in their 50s and 60s who were sold the idea that their hard-earned superannuation would see them through their retirement years. It is the people living in the regional areas who have exhausted all the local employers and have tried relocating but are constantly told, ‘We can’t even find jobs for our local workers, so don’t bother coming.’ It includes small business folk and sole operators who are fighting increased competition from all the other people who have given up on ever getting a job and decided to go it alone.

Aside from the ridiculous image conjured up by the idea of hundreds of jobless cold calling and having doors shut in their face by companies that clearly would advertise if they need someone. What Misters Abbott, Abetz, Andrews and Hockey cannot fathom, sitting on their fat wallets, is that jobs are bloody scarce out there – more scarce than they have been since the Great Depression. Or, if they know this, they are not telling us. My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem but everything comes down to saving money, so their only plan is to make it so hard for people on Newstart and other benefits to comply that they will simply cut their allowance. From the sad stories I have already heard and read, I know that this will lead to increases in the number of suicides and the crime rate will skyrocket. I doubt they will care.

55 comments

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  1. David

    I’m sure you’re making valid arguments here, but perhaps a proof-read before publishing might be a bit of an idea?

  2. fryaduck

    $80,000 to keep a person in gaol per year excluding the various costs both financial and emotional. $14,000 to keep a person on the dole.

  3. captain51

    The Govt scheme through their Job Network system is not designed to succeed in placing people who are unemployed into employment. An unemployed person is placed with one of these providers and is forbidden from registering with any other. Surely, this limits a person who is unemployed from accessing certain employment as Job network providers will place their clients in order to receive their dosh from the Govt.

    Workfordole is nothing more than cheap labour.

  4. Michael Taylor

    David, my error.

  5. mikestasse

    These are the ‘alternate lifestylers’, the ‘opters-out’ – good luck to them; they are probably doing better than the average Joe these days.

    I am, thank you very much………

    and nothing the current government will do will have any effect on this group

    Dead right…… ‘jobs’ are unsustainable. ANY person working in the Matrix emits more CO2 than any person who does not. Consumption is killing the planet, and the more you work, the more you earn, the more you consume, the more you are participating in the 6th great extinction event…..

    The system is broken beyond redemption. We need a totally new system where people are encouraged to NOT work, get a GUARANTEED MINIMUM INCOME, and the economy does not grow.

    NOTHING else will work, nor matter, it is the inevitable outcome of Limits to Growth……. Enough is enough.

    Enough is enough…..

  6. Florence nee Fedup

    David, what about content. Do you have problems with that. All that counts really.

  7. Florence nee Fedup

    How many obtain work from Howard’s job agencies. I am sure more will be handed over to the churches, as is occurring with women’s refuges, and I suspect child foster care. When is there going to be a reassessment of job agencies, comparing them with the old CES. Suspect the CES was cheaper and more efficient.

    Please, can anyone that has obtained a job thought them, let us know.

  8. mars08

    My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem…

    Oh but you are wrong! Australia has an unemployment “problem” because there are a lot of unemployed people. The solution is to stop them being unemployed. It’s all their fault and they just HAVE to stop!!!! simples!

  9. rossleighbrisbane

    I suspect that the problem for the government is not that people are unemployed. The problem is that they need to be seen to be doing something about it.
    Things like Work-for-the-dole and various media reports in the Murdoch Papers and ACA help create the idea that if someone’s unemployed then it’s their fault and up to them to do something about it. Then it’s no longer a problem. Or rather, no longer a problem for their government.
    Which, in the end, is the only thing that matters to them.

  10. mars08

    …create the idea that if someone’s unemployed then it’s their fault and up to them to do something about it. Then it’s no longer a problem. Or rather, no longer a problem for their government.

    Um… isn’t that what I said?

    Unemployment is created when people remain unemployed. All the buggers have to do is STOP BEING UNEMPLOYED!!!!

  11. Matters Not

    The government is not pursuing a ‘policy’ agenda but rather a ‘political’ programme. It was Mitt Romney who argued that 47% of the US are ‘dependent’; ‘victims’ on some type of welfare who would never vote for him. Not that he believes in ‘class warfare’.

    Given that Abbott et al are guided by the GOP playbook, it’s reasonable to assume that the unemployed voters (victims of their own failings) are already alienated from the current government and therefore, the support they have locked in, can be buoyed further by giving these ‘failures’ another ‘bash’.

    It works a treat, provided they don’t over reach.

  12. billie11

    I accidentally renewed my subscription to Eureka Report which was sold to News Corp last year and is now showing the heavy hand of Murdoch’s editorial policies. There has been no mention about unemployment policy and labour markets which surely has a bearing on economic conditions and the ability of businesses to create and maintain domestic demand.

    The punitive treatment of the vulnerable should lead to more desperate people breaking into houses – home security companies must be gearing up for a boom

    Medicos will earn lower incomes if they service areas where many patients are bulk billed. Emergency departments of hospitals will be even more crowded. If you think you have broken a bone you generally take yourself straight to emergency

  13. Anne Byam

    Ref : ” My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem but everything comes down to saving money ……….. “.

    I don’t think they have any desire to ‘save money’ at all. They want to further line the pockets of the rich ( including themselves and their ‘fat wallets’ ), and if that COSTS them money, what the hell … they’ll do it anyway. They don’t give a damn who it hurts in the process, and the smaller the person ( in wealth ) the less they would want to do anything helpful and positive for them.

    Divide and conquer. Ideology at it’s worst. The basis of fascism. THAT’s what we have today in this so-called ‘Government’.

  14. mikestasse

    This government appears to want Australia to become a third world country: offshoring jobs, cutting welfare, destroying education = third-worldifiaction.

  15. mikestasse

    Ref : ” My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem but everything comes down to saving money ……….. “.

    WHAT problem……..? That’s how crapitalism works. Wages represent the price of the worker’s labor power which the capitalist purchases and puts to use in the production of commodities (objects intended solely for exchange). Like all prices, wages are vulnerable to fluctuations in supply and demand that are inherent in the market. If the capitalists – the only class capable of buying on a mass scale – is not buying, then the working class must suffer unemployment, thereby driving down wages across the board. A worker owns only his or her ability to work, and therefore does not have the luxury afforded the capitalist owner, who may have a multitude of commodities or properties other than his own flesh and blood. If his products are in too great a supply, he can choose to sell at a loss or wait for demand to rise while focusing on another commodity. On the other hand, the worker must constantly sell his or her ability to work for a wage in order to survive; there is no waiting for brighter days for the sale of labor power!

    A large reserve of unemployment means that the capitalists have the freedom to buy labor power for less, thus lowering the overall quality of life for working people in general. And now we are Limits to Growth, it’s only going to get worse. And worse. And……..

  16. mars08

    Matters Not:

    …it’s reasonable to assume that the unemployed voters (victims of their own failings) are already alienated from the current government …

    Don’t underestimate the average voter’s ability and willingness to vote against their best interests! Asylum seekers!!! Aaaaargh! Be afraid! Ohhh… Terrorists!!! Budget deficit… eeek!

    The GOP playbook has at least ONE well-proven tactic!

  17. Graeme Rust

    It’s a wonder there isn’t jobs everywhere, lots of businesses must have voted for toni dum dum, so they should have lots of confidence in him, but they’re not showing it, they’re not rushing out to employ people, could it be that they don’t have any confidence in their wacko leader???

  18. Anna

    WoW doom and gloomers! For starters the Government service known as Australian Job Services (not Job Network since 2009) has extremely hardworking, caring and skilled recruitment staff available for FREE and might I add on a very moderate income in comparison to Government workers!

    As far as attempts to help motivate the long term unemployed is concerned, that my friends is a major SOCIAL issue. Which by the way has always been around, people need HOPE.

    May I suggest that business will need to find ways to inspire our loyalty as workers – creating options of profit sharing and fair work for fair pay will definitely work towards this.

    97% of business in Australia is categorised as small business – 62% of that group is owner-operated, testimony to the individual making their own work if necessary.

    This demonstrates the need for us to help people create networks – hence instead of belly aching about Government Policy that always has its pros and cons.

    DO SOMETHING!

  19. silkworm

    Anne Byam, you are spot on.

  20. mikestasse

    And Anna is NOT. Sure there are the odd competent “Job Services Australia” (go on, let’s be pedantic…….) staff around, but most I’ve come across are not. The last I one I had dealings with was as cynical about the whole process as I was….. he used to be a bank manager, made redundant, worked for two gold mines, made redundant…….. and now forced to work for “Job Services Australia”.

    My wife went to one of these ‘services’ the other day. They’d lost their funding, and the only person there, the owner, had to sack all three people that worked for him…… the ultimate irony maybe? He by the way was , according to my wife, a breath of fresh air, because he actually knew what he was doing….

    The problem largely lies in the fact that more and more technology has replaced the workforce. So now we have ‘labour productivity’. We now cook each other’s hamburgers, baby sit each other’s kids, clean each other’s toilets, etc etc etc….. and you think we need motivation? GET A LIFE…..

  21. Poor suffering student

    Thanx for this article.
    As a student, {Uni} my friends and I have major concerns over this issue
    Being slugged with a HECs debt, and this to look forward to, the future is scary under the Libs.
    A number of my friends are already planning to flee overseas immediately on Graduation and staying there to avoid the massive debt we will incur under Pyne.
    I find it hard to get my friends to come onto quality sites like AIMN as a few have had poor experiences on places like IA with their posters bullying tactics and being moderated out for holding slightly differing views,
    Keep up the great work here on the AIMN

  22. Jeanette

    I agree with all comments, having worked with people who no fault of their own did not acquire a good education, fell in between the cracks for literacy would plead with me to give them a job. Many times I acted as educator as well as trainer. My suggestion to some who showed talent in the arts was to also apply for arts grants. Actually I know of many older people not able to get a formal job either went to full time study or went on the grant trail.

  23. David Farrell

    Is it true Adani will be flying in 457’s by the 747 load at shift swaps to keep the costs of thermal coal extraction as low as possible.

  24. darrel nay

    Evening everyone,

    Anybody who sits around waiting for the government to sort out their problems is likely to be disappointed. I would urge people who are keen to work but feel betrayed by the government or undervalued by employers to have a crack at starting your own business – be your own boss. Even if you have to knock on doors and ask for cleaning, window-cleaning, yard work, painting, baby sitting, etc. you will be surprised how many people are prepared to reward your initiative. Alternatively if you have the skills try making something for the local markets. Try growing organic food and selling it to your neighbours and you may be surprised how quickly you will make a decent living – it is really empowering to regain control of your life. Be committed and positive and life will reward you.

    As for those people who are unable or unwilling to work I have grave doubts about the governments desire to help you. If at all possible I would argue that real community is probably the best solution. My limited experience suggests that strengthening the ties to our local network facilitates the caring relationships which can help when times are tough. Also, there is not much point to suffering in silence – better to let others know you are struggling and perhaps meaningful beneficial solutions can be reached.

    Finally, I am begging those of us who are not struggling, to stand-up now and show the character that these times demand. Volunteer, donate time or resources, offer discounted rent or even free rent (perhaps for services rendered) and generally make an effort to help each other. Now would be a great time to go through the cupboards/garage and gather-up anything that might help people in need. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.

    Stay positive and love each other.

  25. mikestasse

    “I would urge people who are keen to work but feel betrayed by the government or undervalued by employers to have a crack at starting your own business”

    Well I wouldn’t… Anyone starting or trying to start a business right now will probably lose everything.

    Crapitalism is on its knees. We will soon have energy crises on all fronts, even coal. Because without oil, you can’t mine coal. Or anything else for that matter. Without energy, the economy grinds to a halt. It’s that simple. http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/conventional-thinking-is-over/

    Beginning of the End? Oil Companies Cut Back on Spending

    There is only one way forward from here. Do a Permaculture Design Course, and teach yourself self sufficiency. Better still, get all your friends and rellies to do it too and band together.

    I suppose in some ways that could be construed as starting a business of sorts, because food production in a world short of food will always be successful, but be prepared to barter as money becomes worth as much as the paper it’s printed on……

    EVERYTHING is about to change……..

  26. mikestasse

    “Try growing organic food and selling it to your neighbours and you may be surprised how quickly you will make a decent living”

    Have you actually tried this?

    I grow my own organic food. I have sold some of my glut crops to ‘the local market’, and got PEANUTS for my effort. Food is very much undervalued, because when it’s grown using fossil fuels and machines it takes little effort, but do it manually, making compost by the cubic metre, raising the animals needed to make the manure for your compost, etc etc is not worth the effort for mere money. Food is far more valuable than money. I wouldn’t sell MY organic food anymore. I’d rather feed it to my chickens and ducks and goats and ensure the resources stay here to be recycled again, a lesson learned the hard way.

    People will need to learn to live with very little money soon. I live on 10 to 15 thousand dollars a year, and I only need that much because I have a black hole out the front called a car.

    Stop consuming and you need almost no money at all, and you certainly don’t need to work! As in work for a job…….

  27. mikestasse

    “In the turbulent times ahead our familiar ways of acting, thinking, and being will no longer make sense. We won’t know what is happening, what it all means, and, sometimes, even what is real. Some people have entered that time already.” ~ By Charles Eisenstein

  28. Hotspringer

    There are many job seekers and few vacancies. With increased automation and outsourcing to countries employing slave labour, plus our businesses preferring 457 visa workers and soon work for the dole conscripts, this will only get worse and lifting the pension age won’t do much to fix it. To have everyone who wants a job employed, we must slash working hours to perhaps 20 – 25 per week and introduce a living wage for all, working or not.

  29. mikestasse

    Spot on Hotspringer…..

    Just this morning, I discovered this video that really encapsulates everything I see wrong with the system, and which will need to be abandoned. The reason we even have unemployment is that there are not enough deck chairs on the Titanic, never enough money to satisfy crapitalism.

    IF you have a spare 43 minutes to spend on a wintry Sunday, do yourself a favour and watch this……. it might change your whole outlook on things.

    Sacred Economics: An Evening with Charles Eisenstein

  30. Florence nee Fedup

    “My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem…”

    What problem? The one where business no longer accepts any responsibility for training staff or providing entry level positions.

    The problem that many workers have with completing with 457 visas for jobs.

    The one, where employers are taking jobs overseas.

    The ones, where workers are being replaced with automaton, as in the mining industry.

    The one where this government says, all acquisitions will be bought off shore.

    The onbe where this government sees no value in preserving jobs and industry.

    Just curious as to what people believe the problem to be.

  31. mikestasse

    The problem is largely the monetary system that relies on scarcity…… scarcity of money, scarcity of jobs, and soon to be followed with scarcity of resources which will sink the entire ponzi scheme……

  32. Florence nee Fedup

    mikestasse, where does one grow the food. Are window sells OK.

  33. Florence nee Fedup

    Money system is man made. Time for a system that serves the people.

  34. Florence nee Fedup

    Humans hunted and scavenged. Then they served he king, or where slaves. Then they learnt to barter. Along the way, they found money. Time for another change I believe.

  35. nurses1968

    wow,
    self promotion !
    if I’ve seen one link on here for the bloodymatrix , I’ve seen a thousand.
    mikestasse time to give it a rest
    It isn’t that interesting

  36. Florence nee Fedup

    I am a little confused. I have not seen any evidence that we have high unemployment figures. With this government, I am sure that will be corrected. In the meantime we have problems getting the young into work.

    Problems with industry and government that see investing in human capital, with education and skill training as wasteful, not their responsibility.

  37. Florence nee Fedup

    What we have seen over the last decade, I a big rise in labour productivity, while at the same time, a bigger slice of the pie going to capital. Why is this so. When does capital believe they have achieved their fair share of the pie. They seem to want the lot.

  38. mikestasse

    YOUR problem nurses1968……

  39. nurses1968

    Do you have to continually publicise the damnedmatrix here because , otherwise you’d be all alone there.
    I read a little bit, but got turned off when you dumped on valuable contributors there who write on the AIMN.
    Just to make it clear, Kaye Lees writings are a significant reason I visit here, regardless of you shots at her on the doomedmatrix

  40. Kaye Lee

    Hmmmm….I didn’t realise that mikestasse, whilst using this site to promote his blog, is bagging us when you get there.

    “The AIMN is a barely hidden ALP lovefest site where the writers take turn at hating the current government. Not that you can blame them mind you, but that topic can get tiresome. So any time I get a chance to put some alternative stances on the state of the world, I grab it with both hands. It always lands me in deep water, I’m labelled negative and without hope.

    To be frank, I don’t know myself why I bother. Neither I nor anyone else can ‘save the world’. I won’t save Kaye Lee either. She’s been convinced by the techno-utopians that we have a future low flying in renewable powered HSR.”

    mike,

    I would appreciate it if you stopped telling me and others what I think. You have absolutely NO idea what I think and I most definitely do not expect or want you to “save” me. Your arrogance is astonishing.

  41. Dan Dark

    After reading nurse68 comments, I went and had a look, I didn’t even bother to go past first page thing on his avatar, ” but I think Mike needs to take 2 bex and take a rest, and focus on saving himself more or plant more veggies LOL

  42. MichaelFeeney

    Michael,
    Kaye Lee,Good on you mate.I did follow link to Enough is Enough,from Mikestrasse.I found it interesting,BUT,once WAS enough,
    As for this site being ALP run ,That is ridiculous.Some of us are left leaning in our thinking,but in reality,any genuine,really caring person would have to be CONCERNED,VERY CONCERNED with this cowardly vindictive LYING bunch of excreta supposed to be GOVERNING us
    AS in ALL AUSTRALIANS, Once again,thanks to all conrtibutors,especially,Kay Lee
    Michael F

  43. mikestasse

    Geez…….. for everyone’s information, I constantly promote THIS site on my facebook. I’ve reblogged several items from here (when the ‘reblog this’ feature was available before – whatever happened to it?) and I haven’t told Kaye Lee what to think……. well not for ages, it’s a waste of time hey Kaye 😉 what you or anyone else here thinks is your problem. As I have said before, blogging is NOT a popularity contest. Don’t like what I say? Ignore me….. but don’t attack me. I haven’t bagged anyone from here on my blog….. that excerpt from Kaye is hardly ‘bagging’, you should see me in full swing when I DO get stuck into people I don’t like, and it’s not even a case of me not liking Kaye, we just disagree. WHAT is the big deal? If I thought this site was crap, I wouldn’t bother looking, now would I.

    I use DTM to store the stuff I’m interested in so I can easily find it again. Promoting the thoughts of Charles Eisenstein, a prolific writer of serious books is hardly self promotion. And if you don’t get Eisenstein’s explanation of how the monetary system has got us into this mess we’re in now, then I am fully justified in thinking there is no hope for civilisation.

    Instead of bagging me, how about you inform us all as to what is wrong with Eisenstein’s reasoning… Go on, I dare you.

  44. mikestasse

    MichaelFeeney I never said the AIMN was run by the ALP , I said, as Kaye quoted “The AIMN is a barely hidden ALP lovefest site”, which it is. Yep, there are a few Greens voters here, myself included, but really, how often do you have to state how disgusted you are with the fiberals before it all starts getting tedious….

    BTW, WHAT did you think of “Enough is Enough”? That’s what I’d REALLY like to discuss…….

  45. nurses1968

    Hey,
    you forgot the link this time,
    damnrottenmatrix.yuk.u2

  46. Dan Dark

    “how often do you have to state how disgusted you are with the fiberals before it all starts getting tedious….”
    However long it takes Mike, however long it takes to wake people up to this lot of rabble pretending to be a fed gov, keep writing everyone at AIMN for however long it takes….;)

  47. diannaart

    Suggestion to job-seekers – paper bomb all politicians, their offices, their homes, even post flyers with applications on walls, in lifts, whatever, next to any government office (don’t forget to take pictures – then you can tweet ’em and more)

  48. Manfred

    Thanks Miketasse great video. re Charles Eisenstein

  49. John Armour

    My guess is that they have no ideas how to fix this problem but everything comes down to saving money, so their only plan is to make it so hard for people on Newstart and other benefits to comply that they will simply cut their allowance

    It actually doesn’t come down to money, but I really don’t don’t know if even the government understands this.

    What I do know, because it’s enshrined in policy, is that the RBA and Treasury have a target for a minimum level of unemployment around 5% called the NAIRU (the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment). And given the way we measure unemployment these days, that means closer to 10%.

    Edward Eastwood wrote about this in his recent post here:

    Galileo, MMT and the Job Guarantee

    The question we’re not asking however is, if the electorate had no tolerance for unemployment above 2% for the period from the end of WW2 and the mid 1970’s, what’s happened since to change our attitudes ?

    In a simple barter economy there is no unemployment, it’s a unique feature of monetary economies.

    In that hypothetical dawn of civilisation when the clansfolk decided to create ‘government’ and along with it, the tribal currency, to make the barter system more efficient, it was always part of the social contract that government would guarantee work for everyone who wanted it.

    Nobody’s rescinded the contract and it’s still the sacred duty of government to guarantee full-employment as a basic right.

    But like the RBA’s other charter objective of full employment, this obligation has been quietly pushed aside to suit the interests of business. Business needs its buffer-stock of unemployment to keep the workforce disciplined.

    In other words, this government has no interest whatsoever in reducing unemployment and all the rhetoric is aimed at shifting focus from the government’s failings and making it look like it’s all the fault of the victims.

    There are currently about 7 unemployed for every vacancy.

  50. Challenged Species

    The problem is with the traditional thinking, the mind set that the way forward is growth and jobs.

    I can understand it, we have been raised in this social environment all our lives, of course, however there are many signs of failure and they are all pointing in the same direction. We have massive unemployment to be sure, yet we also have a less discussed issue with under-employment. We have climate change marching ever closer and the continual loss of global biodiversity. It is all intertwined.

    Our technological advancements are replacing jobs, spending is down resulting in reduced employment hours, which feed back to reduced spending. So we want growth in the jobs market, get the people back to work and increase spending. Unfortunately this has a negative impact on our environment as we produce and throw away increasing amounts of junk we really never needed.

    What we need in society is less not more, but that less needs to be done much more efficiently. Our economy needs to be, well, economic. We don’t need a new Iphone every year or so, we need a phone that is built to last that is easy to upgrade, we don’t need thirty different types of hammer or T.V. or whatever, we need to focus on building the best we can produce. In short we need global collaboration not competition.

    We are currently going through the labour pains of social change, our hand is being forced as we come to understand that our social model is simply not sustainable. That change could actually happen very quickly, but we are all being held back by the antiquated thinking of our politicians whom have only one solution, more toxic growth.

    Growth for the sake of growth on a planet of finite resources is a recipe for disaster, the only thing on our planet that continually grows is cancer and we all know how that ends.

    As Einstein said so many years ago, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

    It is time for a new way of thinking.

  51. Max Gross (@Max_Gross)

    Julie, I’d just like to point out that it’s NOT the “employment industry” that you have worked in for decades. It’s the UNemployment industry, established by John Howard when he scrapped the CES that was legislated to actually find jobs for the jobless, unlike the current setup of dodgy shop fronts sucking on the taxpayer tit to make the guvmint look like its doing something

  52. iggy648

    From the ABS I got:
    Number of people employed (in seasonally adjusted figures), in thousands (approx):
    Aug 2015 11,775
    Aug 2014 11,703
    Aug 2013 11,637
    Aug 2012 11,498
    Aug 2011 11,432
    Aug 2010 11,272
    So, roughly speaking, In the 2 years of the Abbott government, they averaged 69,000 more people in work per year. In the last 3 years of the Labor government, they averaged 121,000 more people in work per year. We need to look at why the Coalition government did so poorly, or (what would be more useful) why the Labor government did so well, and analyse the differences.

  53. The AIM Network

    That’s interesting. It also exposes Abbott’s lies.

  54. Jen

    Now that Mr Abbotts out and Malcolm Turnbull is in. Yet again nothing as been done with unemployment on the scale of job creation and helping business stay alive in Australia, instead of beating down jobseekers looking for none existing jobs, especially when theirs not enough jobs for the numbers seeking work. The government ignore, that many business people are closing down around us, which hold a great number of jobs. Many shut their doors, because rent is to high along with rates. Immigration and refugees coming in now doesn’t help, nor does the 457 visa holders help either, with the limited jobs we have here. What makes things worse is a lot of students leaving education behind because it’s too expensive and unaffordable, obviously joining the jobseeker queue, rising the unemployment rate. Smart & skill program shambles; a foolish move by the government and the likes of Adrian Piccoli, John Barilaro and Mike Baird, especially anyone else involved in this reform should be thrown out of government. O! Isn’t crazy as well that Australia is selling off it’s natural resources to overseas buyers like China, when it’s resources should be kept for our descendants, which the government has failed to seize it’s means of production for ourselves, a great means of employment for those here.

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