Lifting the low jobseeker rate to the poverty line would save thousands of lives.
S tunning new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the low rate of jobseeker means at least 3,000 more unemployed Australians die each year than would be the case were they not purposefully kept in poverty.
We often talk about how tough it is for those on jobseeker.
The report found that Australians on jobseeker are up to 10 times more likely to die than those not on welfare support.
In 2022, the rate of deaths for 35- to 44-year-olds not living on welfare support was 30 per 100,000. The rate was 288 per 100,000 for those on jobseeker – 9.6 times greater.
Now, jobseeker payments are almost half the poverty line – about $300 a week less than what would be needed for a single person to be right on the poverty line. The only time this was not the case was during the Covid pandemic when the Morrison government effectively doubled jobseeker temporarily.
During 2020, the death rate of those on jobseeker dropped 32% from 328 people per 100,000 the previous year to 224 people per 100,000:.
If instead of dying at a rate of 326 per 100,000, the rate was the same as it was in 2020, then 1,246 fewer people would have died.
If those on jobseeker died at the same rate as those not on welfare payments, in 2022 just 817 people would have died – 3,168 fewer than in reality:.