Australian govt expects widespread job losses

Canberra, March 25 Up to 150,000 Austral are expected to lose their jobs when the government's coronavirus wage subsidy scheme ends later this month.

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that between 100,000 and 150,000 recipients of the JobKeeper wage subsidy will become unemployed when the scheme ends on March 28, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said that most of those would be people on zero or low hours in industries hit hardest by the pandemic such as tourism and events but that it was the right time for JobKeeper to end.

"In our view, it is appropriate for the program to end as other support measures take effect and to allow the economy to continue adjusting," Kennedy said.

JobKeeper was introduced at the end of March 2020 to stimulate the economy amid lockdowns.

It has cost the government A$90 billion.

According to government analysis without JobKeeper Australia's unemployment rate would have peaked at 15 per cent during the pandemic compared to the actual peak of 7.5 per cent.

Kennedy revealed that approximately 1.1 million people have been receiving JobKeeper in the first quarter of 2021.

Industries including tourism and events have called for the scheme to be extended, warning that businesses will be forced to close without ongoing support.

"We are continuing to closely monitor the situation in different sectors and do expect that the end of the JobKeeper program will lead to some businesses closing and jobs being lost," Kennedy said.

"However, we remain confident that there will continue to be a broad-based recovery in the labour market over 2021, given recent strong employment growth and the decreasing reliance on JobKeeper over recent months."

( With inputs from IANS )