■1L,The Brotherhood of St Laurence

WORKERS WITHOUT JOBS

A STUDY OF A GROUP OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE

Graeme Brewer

A RESEARCH PROJECT OF THE

BROTHERHOOD OF ST LAURENCE

October, 1975.

1 Library of Australia Card No. & ISBN 0 909571 31 7Nat i ona

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The study was made p os si ble by the time and

c o- op er at i on given by 160 u nemployed people

to w ho m I am e x tr em el y grateful.

Numerous people assi ste d at various stages of

the survey. I am e s pe c i a l l y indebted to

Shirley Sargent and to Bill Evans, Mary Fisher,

David Griffiths, Vera Hart, Michael Kitson,

Susie Mahoney, Kathy Serafy, David W hi tc ro ft

and the members of the B r ot herhood's Research

C o- or d in a ti n g Group.

Graeme Brewer

Research Officer

$t

TAB LE OF CONTENTS

Page N o .

1 . INTRODUCTION 1

2. TOWARDS A SURVEY SAMPLEAp p ro a ch to the Department of Labor and Immigration 7

Sampling procedure: From thesublime to the ridiculous? 8

Sample represent at iveness:From the p ar ticular to thegeneral? 10

3 • WHO ARE THE U N E M P L O Y E D ? 1 3Sex 14Age 16Educational standards 19Place of origin 21Type of job 23Duration of unem plo yment 25Numbers clai min g u n em pl oy me nt benefit 29

D ep endent children 31Summary 33

4. THE IMPACT OF U N E M P L OY ME NT 35Financial situation of the u n em plo ye d 35

Wa iti ng period for benefit 39Wage and benefit levels 42Financial c om mi tme nt s 50Emotional impact 55

5• BLUDGERS OR V ICT IMS? 60Statistical facts and fallacies 60Past work e x pe r ien ce s 66Reasons for leaving previous job 68Job a v a i l a b i l i t y 69Source of job referrals 73Method of job seeking 74Results of job a p p l i c at io ns 76General o b s e r v a ti o ns 80

Page N o .

6. JOB TRAINING 83National Employment and Training Scheme 83

Migrants 90Young people 91

7. THE ROLE OF THE COMMONWEALTHEMPLOYMENT SERVICE 100

Determ in at ion of eligibility for benef it 101

Appeals procedure 105D is cr e ti on a ry payments 108'We're here to help' 110Staffing 115Do service and need correspond? 118

8. QUESTIONS OF W OR K INCENTIVE ANDINCOME M A IN TE NA NCE SCHEMES 126

9. R E CO M ME NDA TI ONS 1A0

APPEND I X A - SURVEY Q UE ST IONNAIRE 1 1*6

APPENDIX B - SUMMARY OF EMPLOYMENT RESOURCE AND INFORMATION CENTRE 155

BIBLIOGRAPHY 157

OTHER BROTHERHOOD OF ST LAURENCE P UB LI CATIONS 161

L I S T OF T AB LES

Page N o .

1 U ne mployed Persons by Sex 1 4

2 Unem pl oye d Persons by Age 17

3 U n em plo ye d Persons by EducationalStandard 19

4 Unem pl oy ed Persons by Place of Origin 22

5 Unem pl oy ed Persons by Job Category 24

6 U nem p lo ye d Persons by A v er ag e Durationof Unem plo ym ent (in weeks) by Age 27

7 U nem pl o ye d Persons by Duration ofU ne mp lo y me nt 28

8 U n e m p l o ym e nt Benefit Claimants as aProp ort io n of the Total Number of U ne mp l oy e d Persons 29

9 U n e m p l o ym e nt Benefit Claimants byMarital Status 31

10 U ne m pl oy m en t Benefit Claimants byDependent Children 32

11 Bank B a 1ance 36

12 Lump Sum Payments 38

13 Weekly 'take-home' Pay in Last Job 43

1 4 Poverty Line Estimates compared withU n e m p l o ym e nt Benefit Rates 45

15 Nature of O cc up anc y 50

16 A c c o mm od a ti on Costs as a Percentageof 'take-home' Pay 52

L I S T OF T ABLES ( C o n t ' d . )

Page N o .

17 A c co m mod at ion Costs as a P e r c e n ­tage of Persons' UnemploymentBenefit 53

18 Unemployed Persons by Job V a c a n ­cies 70

19 Unemployed Persons by UnfilledVacancies a cc ording to O c c u p a ­tional Category 7 2

20 Source of Job Referrals I k

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C HAPTER 1

I NTRODUCTI ON

In September, 1975, registered u nemployment in Au st ra li a stood at 246,09**.^ This figure re­presents A .1 % of the total work force. Around the same time, the O rg an iz at io n for Economic C o -o per at io n and D ev e lo p me nt predicted that ‘ internationally, there is likely to be more u ne mp l oy me n t in the next few months and little, if any, reduction by this time next y e a r . '2 Yet, in spite of the c on ti nu in g seriousness of the u ne mpl oy men t pro ble m in Australia, it would seem that public concern has borne an inverse relation to rising employment.

Apart from the d e pr ess io n years and the 1961 credit squeeze, A u s t r al i an s had grown a c c u s ­tomed to a 'full' e mp lo y me nt rate according to which the number of unemployed persons was between 1.0 and 1.5$ of the total labour force. Altho ug h this low rate of unemployment was g e ­nerally regarded as laudable, m isgivings were o c c a s i on al l y expressed. For example, the D e ­puty Leader of the Opposi tion, and then M i n i s ­ter for Labour and National Service, Mr Lynch, referred to two d i sa d va n t a g e s of low u n e m p l o y ­ment rates:

"Firstly, e m pl oym en t security can p r o ­duce a high rate of labour turnover and abse nte e i sm.

1 • M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a t i o n , S e p t e m b e r 1 9 7 5 . D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r & I m ­m i g r a t i o n .

The A u s t r a l i a n , W e d n e s d a y , J u l y 23, 1975.p .1.

2 .

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The costs of labour turnover are not only the obvious ones of recruitment and training of replacements, but in­clude the value of output lost due to delays in filling vacancies and the inexperience of new employees. Se ­condly, a prolonged period of e m p l o y ­ment security strongly enhances the bargaining power of unions and w e a ­kens the resistance of employers to u nr ea so n ab le wage demands. In the past few years, trade union leaders have come to realise that they can often dictate, rather than negotiate, terms and conditions of employment to e m p 1 o y e r s ."3

Mr Lynch's unease about low unemployment can be seen to stem from a desire to maximize in­dustrial output, to keep costs low and to vitiate the power of unionists. Although his view is not a widely stated one, it has, at times, been reiterated by o t h e r s . 3 4 Such a view is predicated w ithout due regard to the desire among many workers to retain their job mobi lit y so as to achieve greater fulfilment through their employment. It also takes no cognizance of the fact that the m a jo rit y of people who are vulnerable to un em pl oy m en t are never in possession of strong b ar gaining power due to the unskilled nature of their work.

3. L y n c h , P h i l l i p . E m p l o y m e n t S e c u r i t y , D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o u r & N a t i o n a l S e r ­vi ce, A p r i l 15, 1972, p p . 13-14.

4. S t a t e m e n t by J. J o n e s o f the Q u e e n s l a n dE m p l o y e r s ' F e d e r a t i o n r e p o r t e d in The A u s t r a l i a n , F e b r u a r y 18, 1972, p.9. A l so : Vi c t o r i a n C h a m b e r o f M a n u f a c ­t u r e r s E c o n o m i c S e r v i c e , Ju ne, 1972,N o . 86 p p . 2-3.

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Voung people and women - groups that are e specially s u sc ep ti bl e to unem pl oym en t - tend not to have the same industrial muscle to flex as other industrial groups. It is, perhaps, because work is viewed as the essential domain of the adult male and that d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e numbers of young people and women are c u rr e nt l y out of w or k that the u ne mp lo ym en t crisis has s e em in gl y been evocative of more a l l e g a ­tions of blud gin g than e x pr essions of concern.

Several media reports have fed (or perhaps even produced) the public fantasy of the p revalence of great numbers of v ol u nt a ri ly unemployed and dole- cheats. Even when a n e ws p ap er article goes on to m ention that abuse of u ne mp lo ym en t benefit is in­finitesimal, e y e- c at c hi ng headlines, such as the following, c onvey impressions of voluntary idle­ness and a cushioned, p a ra s it ic existence:

The H e r a l d , December 2, 19/1*, p.1l.'The Silver Platter Handouts'

The Sun, November 11, 197A, p .15.'Dole Given Too Easily'

The A g e , February 17, 1975, p.9.'Crackdown on Bludgers'

The N a t i o n a l T i me s, N ovember k~S,197**, p.25. 'Dole Galore'

The S y d n e y S u n d a y T e l e g r a p h , December 15, 197^, P-7* 'You're Fired - Here's $91 a - W e e k '

The S y d n e y M o r n i n g H e r a l d , March l8,197**, p.6 'Unemployed by Choice'

The M e l b o u r n e S u n d a y P r e s s , March 3,197^, p.12 'States Seek Dole Checks'

The A u s t r a l i a n , February 22, 1975, p.l^t 'The Great A ussie Bludge'

The group that never fails to provoke public fury is what a Department of Labor survey^ c lassified as 'young people without apparent d i s a b i l i t y 1. That survey was conducted at a time of low u ne mp loyment and concerned itself with the 'hard c o r e 1 unemployed. Yet, even then, only 3% of that 'hard core' sample fell into the category of young people who could be deemed v ol un tar il y unemployed.

The report notes among that group ‘a groping honesty likely in time to bring t.hem to a place in the c om munity where they can make the creative c on tr ibution that many hope to make. We expect, as they do, that most will finish in c om pa r at i ve ly conventional careers, perhaps all too c o n v e n t i o n a l ',6 A study by the Cities Commission found 'no evidence to suggest that young people are not motivated to w ork'.? In the current situation of m a s ­sive r et renchments and lay-offs in response to e co no mi c downturn, the proportion of u n e m ­ployed people who could be alleged to be v o ­luntarily unemployed becomes absolutely in­finitesimal. And even in regard to that fractional segment, the conclusion is invi­ted 'that many of them work hard for a l i v i n g 1 in u nconventional, but socially responsible roles.

5 . J o r d a n , A., L o n g T e r m U n e m p l o y e d P e o p l e u n d e r C o n d i t i o n s o f Fu ll E m p l o y m e n t , A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s s i o n o f I n ­q u i r y i n t o P o v e r t y , C a n b e r r a , 1975 , p.19.

6 . Ibid , p p . 24-25.

7 . E m p l o y m e n t in G e e l o n g , C i t i e s C o m m i s s i o n , June, 19 75, p.27.

8. The A g e , A p r i l 6, 1974, p.9.

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Regrettably, public d i sc uss ion of unemployment has f requently d eg en era te d into harangues of so-called bludgers in place of rational c o n ­sideration of the causes, nature and effect of the unem plo ym ent crisis. All too often it is insinuated that the u ne mpl oy me nt problem stems less from current economic factors than from individual c h ar a ct e ri st ic s of the jobless.

The powerless victims of the crisis have s o m e ­how come to stand a ccused of having created their own u ne mp lo y me nt and its attendant d i ­lemmas. The twist of logic represents a c l a s ­sical exa mpl e of 'blaming the v i c t i m 1.9 It c o nv en ien tl y d is mi sse s the problem and serves as a j u s t i f i c at i on for apathy. Indeed a recent A g e poll revealed that a m ajority of Liberal voters and white collar workers thought that meas ure s to control inflation made some u ne mp lo y me nt justifiable. The apparent p r e - o cc u pa t io n of the middle -c la ss with the effects of inflation would appear to have further dulled people's sensibility to the s uf fering of the unemployed. Only just over half of all persons interviewed (52% of the total) thought that no u n e m p l o y ­ment could be j us tified in co nt ro ll in g in­flation.

Only as a result of the g rowing public apathy about u nem pl oy m en t has the Federal Government been able to a n no unc e p e re m pt or il y in the Budget Speech that 'no new projects are being approved under the Regional Employment and D ev el op men t S c h e m e ' . 11 Since its inception the scheme has provided work for 60, 000 people. 'About 30,000 p e op le _w ere employed under RED at the end of June 1 1 2

9. R y a n , W i l l i a m . B l a m i n g the V i c t i m (New York, 19 71 ).

10. The A g e , S e p t e m b e r 9, 19 75. p.4.

11. H a y d e n , W i l l i a m . 1 9 7 5 / 7 6 B u d g e t S p e e c h ,H a n s a r d , No. 13, 1975 . p. 5 9 .

1 2 . The A g e , J u l y 29, 1975. p . 1 .

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Even the Victorian Premier, Mr Hamer, who had branded the RED scheme ‘an unconstitutional attempt once again to arrogate power at the centre'13 at the time that the Victorian G o ­vernment issued a writ against it, thus j e o ­pardizing its future, recently acknowledged the imperativeness of its continuance by d e ­claring u nqualified support for its operation at current l ev el s .1^

The present indications are that unemployment does not appear to be abating and that the current e x tr a or d in ar i ly high levels of u n e m ­ployment are likely to continue into the new year. With the influx of school-leavers to­wards the end of the year and the absence of any job creation programs, it seems inevitable that u ne mp loyment will reach new heights in the early part of 1976. Recent predictions have placed the p ro sp ective level of u n e m p l o y ­ment at around 500,000.^5

In a climate of continuing high levels of u n ­e mp loyment the present study is an attempt to provide obj ect iv e details about the s o c i o ­econ omi c circumstances of the unemployed and, on the basis of their reported experiences, ideas and aspirations, to stimulate c o n s i ­deration of e mployment issues and to f o r m u ­late r ecommendations for future policy.

13. T he A g e , D e c e m b e r 26, 1974 , L e t t e r toE d i t o r , p.6.

14. The S u n , A u g u s t 14, 1975. p .17.

T he A u s t r a l i a n , J u l y 28, 1975. p.7.A r t i c l e by Prof. E. W h e e l w r i g h t of the D e p a r t m e n t o f E c o n o m i c s , U n i v e r ­s i t y o f Sy dney.

1 5 .

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CHAPTER 2

TOWARDS A SURVEY SAMPLE

It was anti ci pa t e d •at the outset of the study that a sample' of u ne mployed persons would be gathered from the M el bo urn e M etropolitan area by e ss e nt i al l y random means and that methodical attention would be paid to relevant questions of experimental design. In the event, c o n s i ­derable problems were e n co untered in building a sample of meaningful proportions and only by falling back on sampling procedures that were • c h ar a ct eri zed by their u no rthodoxy was it p o s ­sible to proceed with the study at all.

Appr oa ch to the D epartment of Labor & Immigration

Initially, a pp r op r ia t e personnel in the D e p a r t ­ment of Labor & Immigration were contacted by letter and an out lin e of the proposed study in­to aspects of u ne mployment was enclosed. Since the research would elicit q ua li ta ti ve i n f or ma ­tion that was not being collected by the D e p a r t ­ment of Labor & Immigration and, yet, concerned the c om munity group that it served, it was hoped that the Depa rtm en t would co-operate in the study. S pe cifically, p ermission was requested for interviewers and interpreters to be given office space in certain C om monwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service offices whe re they would approach every (say) fifth person entering the office and ask them if they would mind giving a brief i nterv i ew.

Though it was of concern that in adopting this approach interviewers could 'become identified with o f fi c i a l d o m and respondents may be unusually guarded, such an approach seemed to offer the only o pp o rt u ni ty of gathering a random sample within a m ixture of social class areas.

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Insufficient resources existed for gathering a sample of similar randomness through a house- to-house survey.

Regrettably, the request to the Department of Labor S Immigration was not granted. Since the c o- op eration of the Department was not able to be enlisted the choice became one of a bandoning plans for the study altogether* or aban don in g plans for rigorous methodology. The latter course was chosen.

The D ep ar tment's response, of course, raises wider questions of policy. It seems evident that the nature of the information that the survey elicits is fundamental to an u n d e r ­standing of the problems of the unemployed and the responses it provokes in them. If the D ep ar tment's own response to this group is to be e ff ective and relevant then, clearly, it must be sensitive to the range of c i r c u m ­stances and a spirations of the unemployed. Otherwise there is an apparent risk that its policy formulations will take inadequate a c ­count of the needs of the groups it is e s t a b ­lished to serve.

In the future, it is to be hoped that the Department of Labour 6 Immigration will carry out (or, a lternatively, commission) research that will elicit relevant biographical, s o ­cial and econo mi c data with regard to the u n ­employed and which will provide information that may be usefully referred to in f o r m u l a ­ting policy. In using its own resources, it would also be able to minimize error that may oth erw is e occur due to sampling.

Sampling P r o c e d u r e : From the Sublime to theR i d i c u l o u s ?

The principal method used to gather the sample was to select C o mm onw ealth Employment Service offices near to which office space was a v a i l ­able to interviewers and to hand out leaflets on certain mornings of the week.

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These leaflets urged u n em ployed people to help out with the study by attending a nearby office for a short interview and set out brief, general d etails of the p u r ­poses of the study. The details were p r o ­vided in English, Italian and Greek. Inter­viewers and interpreters w ere made available at an office address near to w hi ch ev er C o m ­m o nw ea lth Empl oym en t S ervice office was b e ­ing leafletted that morning.

For various reasons the response rate was low (about one in twenty). Pamphleteers reported three common reasons why many people declined to take part in the study. Firstly, since there were no jobs to offer them, the r el evance of the research to them was not direct. Secondly, people often had to wait for some time in C om mo nw ea lt h E m ­ployment S ervice off ice s and having become weary with b ur e au c ra c y e x pr essed a r e l u c ­tance to discuss their s it uation further with yet another person. Thirdly, many u nemployed persons indicated that they thought of the Brothe rh oo d of St Laurence as a c h a ri t ab le o r g a n i za t io n and expressed their own fierce i nd ep endence from charity.

Though the bulk of the sample was gathered by the above method other means were also adopted. R es idences near to the offices from which interviewers and interpreters worked were leafletted, c o mm unity workers of various ilks were notified of the study and were asked to inform u nemployed people of its existence, details of the study were read in three languages over 'Access R a d i o 1 and interviewers made visits to various centres for youth. Interviews were c o n d u c ­ted a n o n y mo u sl y and took place between late March and mid-June. An interview schedule (see A p p e n di x A) which was modified slightly following a pilot run in order to heighten its relevance to u ne mployed persons was used in the survey. Several q uest io ns were left o p en -e nde d in order to elicit qu al it at iv e responses. These responses were later coded and data was compu te r analysed.

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The final sample comprises 160 unemployed persons. T h re e- qua rt ers of persons inter­viewed are twenty-one years of age or more.Nearly all of the adults were drawn from

inner urban areas of Melbourne. Sixty per cent of the youths were drawn from a large, V ict orian provincial city and the remainder lived in inner Melbourne. A detailed b r e a k ­down of the nature of the sample, and of unem ployed persons gen era ll y is given in Chapter 3.

Sample R e p r e s e n t a t i v e n e s s : From the Particular to the G e n e r a l ?

One of the major concerns of researchers is the extent to which their survey findings may be genera li ze d to the remainder of the group under investigation. Though the m e t h o do l og y that the researcher was forced to adopt in this study offers no intrinsic g ua rantee of a repr es entative sample, there is reason for thinking that, by chance, the sample of unemployed persons approximates closely to the total unemployed group in the commun11 y .

It could be alleged that the way in which the sample was e v en tua lly gathered meant that people with grievances about the s y s ­tem would be much more likely to p a r t i c i ­pate in the study. As a partial check on this, a five-point attitude scale was in­cluded in the interview schedule. R e s p o n ­dents were asked to rate the degree to which the Comm onw ea lth Employment Service staff attempted to assist them. Since most offices received a rating that was (albeit, very marginally) to the favourable end of the scale, any such a llegation would appear to have little foundation.

People were also asked what decided them to take part in the study. Nearly ninety per cent a n ­swered that they were m er ely curious about the nature of the study or that they just thought they would help out. Certainly, many people who came for interview had complaints, but judging from reports from numerous community w or ke r s and others, the proportion of inter­viewees e xp re s si n g g r ie van ces with the system was in no way excessive.

It may also be alleged that so-called dole cheats and bludgers would be u nd er -r ep r e s e n t e d in the survey sample b ec au s e they would not have v ol u nte ere d for interview. This may be alleged, partic ul ar ly, in view of the low res­ponse rate from tlve l eafletting of the C o m m o n ­wealth E m p 1oyment .Servlce offices. However, though it may be asser te d that so-called b l u d ­gers woul d have been e x cl uded from the survey due to sampling m ethod (and the prev al en ce of a low response rate) there were certain s i t u a ­tions in whic h the response rate was 100%.For example, at youth cen tres where inter­viewers were on the spot and respondents did not have to walk to a nother venue to be inter­viewed, every unem plo ye d person present w i l l ­ingly agreed to be interviewed. If the a l ­legation of a biased sample is to stand up, then a somewhat higher p r op ortion of people indicating a n ti - wo r k a tt it udes should have been e n co un te red when all unemployed persons present were interviewed. In fact, the f i n d ­ings indicate that the e x is te nc e of anti-work a tt itudes was equ all y infinitesimal, both in centres whe re the response rate was optimal and in other survey areas where a low response rate occurred. On this basis, any allegation that the low response rate influenced the sample with regard to the interviewees' work attitudes is open to refutation.

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In the next chapter, detailed comparisons are made between those persons represented in the survey sample with the larger unemployed group along eight dimensions. Official figures are referred to, where possible. Such comparison serves the joint purpose of checking the g e ­nera I i zab i I i ty of the survey sample and of drawing a profile of unemployed persons in t he commun i t y .

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S :

2.1 That the Department of Labor £ Immigra ­tion co-o per at e fully with persons and o rg an iza ti ons in endeavours to gather information on unemployment that has not already been collected by the Department and which may have relevance for its policy formulations.(p.7-8).*

2.2 That the Department of Labor £ Immigra ­tion carry out and/or commission re ­search that will elicit relevant biographical, social and economic data with regard to the unemployed and which will provide information that may be usefully referred to in f ormulating policy, (p.8)

* Page references to the recommendations are provided only as a guide to the reader.For a c om pr eh ens iv e understanding of the basis of the recommendations, the report should be read in full.

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C HAPTER 3

WHO ARE THE UNEMPLOYED?

Though much has been w ritten (and alleged) about u nemployed persons over recent months, it remains d i ff ic ul t to asc ertain an actual profile of those persons w ho have become j o b ­less. Informed d i sc uss io n about u nemployment would be greatly aided if c o m p r e h en si ve s t a ­tistics, including information on the age, marital status, number of dependents, e d u c a ­tional and o cc up ational b ackground of the u n ­employed, length of time on unempl oy me nt b e n e ­fit, with r ural/urban brea kdowns were gathered on a regular and frequent basis. At present, official sources use dif fer ing measures (of u n em p lo y me nt and the resultant incomparability of their measures,) coupled with a tendency for m e as ur em en t along single d i mensions only, offers little a s s is t an c e in d e ve loping a picture of the u n e m p 1o y e d .

The task of comparing the survey sample with the general unem plo ye d p opulation is, thus, confounded by the d if fering criteria that government sources use when producing figures on u ne mployment. Further c onfusion results from the d i ff er in g scope of the areas to which figures refer. Figures published by the A us tr a li a n Bureau of S tatistics, for example, refer to all A u st r alians who did not work during the survey w ee k but, who wish to work and had been looking for w ork at some time in the four p re ceding weeks. While C o m ­m on we al th E mp loyment Service figures refer to all unemployed persons who decide to register with it, s tatistics compiled by the Department of Social Security refer only to a smaller group comp ris in g those persons in the major m et ro po l it a n area who are in receipt of u n e m ­ployment benefit.

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If these varying measures of unemployment are not properly noted in discussing u n e m ­ployment then m is leading statements and erroneous interpretations will be bound to occur.

From those figures that it has been p o s ­sible to draw together the following p r o ­file of the unemployed emerges:

(a ) Sex

TABLE 1: UNEM PL OYE D PERSONS BY SEX

Adults Males F e m a 1e sSurvey Sample % 73-33 T67T6

(n=88) ln=32)Vic. M et ropolitan

A rea *%60.89 39-10

Young People**65.00Survey Sample % 35.00(n=26) (n=lA)

Vic. Met r o p o 1 i tan Area % *

**9.66 50.33

All PersonsSurvey Sample % 71.25 28.75

( n = 1 1 A) {n = A 6 )Vic. Met r o p o 1 i tan 57-53 A 2. Afa

Area %

* S o u r c e : 'Monthly Report of District Em­ployment Office Transactions'. Figures as at 27.3.75.

** Persons under 21 years of age.

The above table indicates a slight o v e r - r e p r e s e n ­tation of males in the sample. We would expect this to be the case simply due to the manner in which the sample was gathered.

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Since many women are ineligible for unemploy ment benefit b ecause they have husbands who are either working, or drawing unemployment benefit themselves, it would be predicted that women would attend C o mmonwealth E m ­ployment Service offices somewhat less frequently than men. Women, therefore, stood less chance of being approached for interview by one of the leafleteers, s t a ­tioned ou tside certain C om mon we al th E m p l o y ­ment Service offices. At the time that the survey was commenced, claims for u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit still had to be lodged weekly at C o mm o nw e al th Employment Service offices, and, as D e pa rtm en t of Social Security f i ­gures! indicate, there is a 2:1 ratio of males over females among u nemployment b e n e ­fit claimants.

There was no e v id enc e of women being more reluctant about a tt ending for interview when requested to do so. The higher r e p r e ­sentation of males in the sample would seem to be solely a t t r i b u ta b le to their p r o p e n ­sity for more frequent a tt en da nc e at C o m ­monwealth Employment Service offices.

Altho ug h total e st imates of the size of the une mpl oye d group show a higher number of men than women out of work, it should be noted that, as a prop ort ion of their numbers in the labour force, more women than men are c ur re ntl y jobless. 1

1 . S o u r c e : C o m p u t e r p r i n t - o u t s u p p l i e d bythe D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y , M e l ­b o u r n e , e n t i t l e d ' S t a t i s t i c a l b r e a k u p o f u n e m p l o y m e n t , s i c k n e s s a n d s p e c i a l b e n e f i c i a r i e s in p o s t - c o d e in S t a t e H e a d q u a r t e r s ' M a y 12, 1975.

- 1 6 -

The most recent national figures^ giving a breakdown of unemployed persons by sex, alongside their representation in the la­bour force, are for May, 1975. At that time, u ne mp loyment among the male labour force was running at 3 . 2 %. Simultaneously, 5.1% of the female labour force was out of work.

(b) Age

A ppr o xi ma t el y one-third of those persons registered with the Commonwealth Employment Service in Victoria at the time of the s ur ­vey were under 21 years of age.^ This figure is well in excess of the proportion of young people in the labour force. In May, 1975, for which pertinent official figures at a n a ­tional level*1 are available, the unemployment rate was 3-9%: the rate of unemployment amongpersons under twenty years of age stood at10.0 %.

National figures from the same source^ also provide a more s op histicated breakdown a c c o r ­ding to unemployed persons' age. The p r o p o r ­tions in each cage category are compared, here, with the survey sample.

2. S o u r c e : 'The L a b o u r F o r c e ' , A u s t r a l i a nB u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s p u b l i c a t i o n , ' May, 1975, p p . 6 - 1 2 .

3. M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a ­ti on , Ma y, 1975.

4. 'Th e L a b o u r F o r c e ' , A u s t r a l i a n B u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s p u b l i c a t i o n , Ma y, 1975, p.20.

5. Ibid.

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TABLE 2: U N EM PLO YE D PERSONS BY AGE

15-19 20-24 25-34 35-4A 45-54 55 &over

SurveySample

21.05(n=24)

16.67 (n = 19)

Males 29-82 (n=34)

13-16 (n = 15)

14.04 (n=16)

5.26 (n = 6)

N at ional* figures % 24.74 22.57 18.88 15.10 9.88 8.84

28.26 (n=13)

F e m a 1esS u rvey Sample %

17-39 (n = 8)

2 8 . 2 6tn=13)

10.87 (n = 5 )

13.04 (n = 6 )

2.17 (n= 1 )

National* f i gures % 36.82 19-41 21.98 12.94 6.47 2.38

A 1 1 PersonsSurvey Samp 1e %

23-13(n=37)

16.88 (n=2 7)

29.38(n=47)

12.50(n=20)

13.75(n=22)

4.38 (n = 7 )

Na ti on al * figures % 30.26 21.16 20.29 14.11 8.32 5.88

S o u r c e : 'The L a b o u r F o r c e ' , A u s t r a l i a n B u r e a u o fS t a t i s t i c s p u b l i c a t i o n . M a g , 1975.

At the c om me nce me nt of the survey, it was decided to heighten a c on ce n tr a ti on on families and, to a small extent, this emph asi s remains in the final sample. Persons under t w en ty-one years of age were treated as a sepa rat e group in the sampling p ro cedure and no attempt was made to represent them in the survey sample as an a ccurate p r o p o r ­tion of the total unem plo ye d group.

- 1 8 -

Many yogng unemployed people have not been able to find their way into the w ork-force since leaving school. By May, 1975, 16.8% of u ne mployed A u st r ali an s under twenty-one

of age remained classified as school-yea r sleavers.^ The immense difficulty that s c ho ol -l eav er s have had in becoming a b s o r ­bed into the w or k force is illustrated by the e mp lo y me n t figures for September, 1975 ten months after the most recent school- leavers had first a tt em pted to obtain work Even by September, over 8,000 of the u n e m ­ployed were s c ho ol -le av ers from the end of the previous y e a r . 7Others, having left school early and w i t h ­out skills, made their way into the work force, but found w o r k u nsati sf yi ng and tended to drift In and out of jobs, e v e n ­tually becoming unemployed. In the c u r ­rent climate they have often found re-entry into the w o r k -f or c e u nu sually difficult and frustrating.

With forecasts of around 250,000 school- leavers flooding a d ep ressed labour m a r ­ket at the end of 1975® the d ifficulty of enteri ng the w o r k -f or c e is certain to b e ­come even greater.

6. B a s e d on an a n a l y s i s o f D e p a r t m e n t o fL a b o r & I m m i g r a t i o n f i g u r e s , S o u r c e : M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a ­tion , Ma y, 1975, p.6.

7 . M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a ­tion , S e p t e m b e r , 1975, p.6.

8. S t a t e m e n t by M r R i o r d a n , M i n i s t e r fo rH o u s i n g an d C o n s t r u c t i o n , r e p o r t e d in H o u s e o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s , H a n s a r d , Wed., O c t o b e r 8, 1975, p . 1 8 3 3 .

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(c) Educational S ta ndards

TABLE 3: U N EM PLO YE D PERSONS BY EDUCATIONALSTANDARD

Years at School

0-6 7-9 10-13 More than13

% * % %

Adults 39.31 29.06 23.08 8.55(n=A6) (n=34) ( n= 27 ) (n«10)

Youth 62.50 32.50 5.00(n = 0 J (n=25J (n = 1 3) (n=2)

A 1 1 29-30 37.5b 25.48 7.6APerson s (n=46) (n=59j (n=40) (n=12)

Total n = 1 57

(Three interviews y ielded no data)

The survey findings indicate that an o v e r w h e l m ­ing m a j o r it y of u n em plo ye d persons have left school at an early age and, consequently, with few skills that may readily be utilized in c o n ­genial work activity. More than one in every three adults in the sample had not proceeded beyond primary school education. It is s u s p e c ­ted that only the o p er a ti o n of c o m pu ls or y s c h o o ­ling to age fifteen p re cludes a parallel s i t u a ­tion among the young people in the sample.

Most of the people who were interviewed re­called school as being an unsatisfying e x ­perience from whic h they were pleased to e s ­cape. Nevertheless, young people, in p a r t i ­cular, e xp ressed regret at having left school so early. A few tried to return to school.Those who did so made the decision with f o re ­boding carrying fresh memories of their lack of 'success' at school. Unfortunately, their tentative approaches to re-establish t h e m ­selves at school tended to meet with d i s c o u ­ragement from school authorities and they returned to heartless job seeking.

No official statistics could be located against which the survey sample could be compared with official statistics on educational criteria.The best ava ila bl e com parative point is an u npu bli sh ed study of long-term unemployed people completed in May, 197**, by Alan Jordan of the, then, Department of Labour. The writer, while* noting a high proportion of poorly educated people, reports a finding of 21% of the sample as having received no secondary e d u c a t i o n . 9 Other p ercentage breakdowns are not reported.In view of the operation of higher s c h o o l ­leaving ages nowadays, the greater r e p r es en ­tation of young people in the study by the Department of Labour (1*0% compared with 25% in the current study) seems to be sufficient to account for the lower percentage of u n e m ­ployed persons in that sample who were w i t h ­out any secondary education.

The indication from both studies is that u n ­employed people have typically left school at an early age. The jobs open to them, therefore, tend to be the least skilled and the least satisfying.

9 . J or dan , A . , o p . c i t . , P- 5 .

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They are the most d is p en s ab le members of the work force and, c ha r ac t er is ti cal ly , remain at the more deprived end of the so ci o- ec on om ic scale. Indeed, as the results of a study by Radford^O suggest, the pattern is likely to be repeated in the next generation. Large numbers of highly able students in the R a d ­ford study were found to leave school in the e arlier years and d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e numbers of such early s ch oo l-l e av e rs had fathers in rural or u ns killed occupations.

(d) Place of Origin

In the Depa rtm en t of Labour's study of long­term unem pl oy ed persons d uring a period of low u ne mp lo y me nt , the p e rcentage of 'over­seas-born is roughly similar to that in the Aust ra lia n population'. The actual p e r c e n ­tage of unem plo ye d migrants was 22%.

In the current survey, u n de rtaken at a time of high unempl oy me nt, the p ercentage of u n e m ­ployed migrants is d i sp r o p o r t i o n a te to their numbers in the total work force. Because leaflets handed out to unem ployed people were in only three languages (English,Italian and Greek), migrants within the survey areas did not stand an absolutely equal chance of being included in the study. However, since about two-thirds of our sample was drawn from inner-urban areas with a high popu la tio n of' Southern European migrants, the survey figures still need to be adjusted d o w n ­wards to give an accurate r ep resentation of all u ne mployed persons a c co rding to their place of origin. * 11

10. R a d f o r d , W. C. 'E d u c a t i o n in A u s t r a l i a f o r P e r s o n a l a n d N a t i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t ’ in the F o r u m o f E d u c a t i o n , 1966. Vol. 25, No. 1,p p . 1-28.

11. J o r d a n , Al a n . op. cit. p . 4

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As has been pointed out, elsewhere, due to their over-rep resen tation in unskilled labouring and b lue-collar jobs 'Southern Europeans in p a r t i c u ­lar are in a precarious position regarding em- p 1oymen t 1 .12

TABLE 4: UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY PLACE OF ORIGIN

A u s t 'n born *

0 1 seas born%

Adults 45.33 54.57surveyed (n=56) (n-67)

Youth CO oo 00 16.22

surveyed* (n=3 1 ) (n = 6)

A 11 unem-p 1oyed per-sons i nAus t .** 66.86 33-14

* To retain c onsistency with categories used by the A u st ral ia n Bureau of Statistics, 'youth' is, here, defined as persons under 20 years of age.

** Source: 'The Labour Force' Australian Bureauof Statistics publication. May, 1975.

12. I m m i g r a t i o n A d v i s o r y C o u n c i l . I n t e r i m R e p o r t , A u g u s t , 1974, of the C o m m i t t e e on C o m m u n i t y R e l a t i o n s , p . 11 9.

- 2 3 -

That migrants, in general, tend to be harder hit by u n em pl oy me nt is c o nf ir me d by national figures a va ilable for May, 1 9 7 5 -1 3 3.5% of A ustralianworkers were u nemployed as against **.7% of m i ­grant workers. However, if o v e rs ea s- bo rn p e r ­sons' length of stay in A u st ralia is taken into account the d i sc re pa ncy between their u n e m p l o y ­ment rate and that of A u s t r a l i a n - b o r n workers is s ig ni f ic a nt l y a t t e n u a t e d . ^

Consid er in g the tendency of some migrant groups, p a rt ic ula rly Southern Europeans, to be heavily represented in the least skilled jobs in the c o m m u n i t y , ^ it is to be expected that there would be a m a r g in al l y d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e p e r c e n ­tage of migr ant s among persons who are currently out of work. Since this leaves them more v u l ­nerable when demand for labour declines the higher rate of u ne mp lo y me nt among certain m i ­grant groups can be seen to be compa ti bl e with their o ccu pational groupings in the labour force. However, their somewhat higher tate' of unemplo ym ent , overall, appears to be p r i ­marily a function of length of residence in Australi a .

(e) Type of Job

Using the c l as s if i ca ti o ns adopted by the C o m m o n ­wealth Empl oy me nt S e r v i c e ^ each of the r e s p o n ­dents was coded into one of nine occupational categories. The following table shows the p e r ­centage of unem plo ye d adults in each category.

13. 'The L a b o u r F o r c e ', Ma y, 1975. op. cit. p . 2 0

14. Ibid. p . 1 7

15. F o r e l a b o r a t i o n , see: A p p l e y a r d , R.T. I m m i -g r a t i o n : P o l i c y S P r o g r e s s , p p .16-17; C o m ­m i t t e e o n C o m m u n i t y R e l a t i o n s , op. cit. pp. 1 1 8 - 1 1 9 ; S t o r e r , D e s ‘. I t a l i a n s in A u s t r a l i a : A S o c i a l O v e r v i e w , p p . 3 - 5 .

16. M o n t h l y R e p o r t o f D i s t r i c t E m p l o y m e n t O f f i c e T r a n s a c t i o n s , o b t a i n e d f r o m the D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r & I m m i g r a t i o n .

- 2 H -

TABLE 5: UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY JOB CATEGORY

Occupat i on

All Males Total Total* Survey Metro- Sample p o 1 i ta n

area

A 11 F e m a 1es Total Total* Survey Metro- Samp 1e p o 1 i tan

area

Professional or s emi -profess i o n a 1

A . 39 (n = 5)

7.22 2.17(n = 1 )

3. 90

Clerical and A dm i ni s tr at i ve

5.26 (n = 6)

16.07 19.57 (n = 9 )

A2.57

Skilled building and construct i on

A . 39 ln = 5)

5-15 - -

Skilled metal and electrical

8.77 (n=10)

8.29 2.17 (n= 1 )

0.10

Other skilled 5.26 (n = 6 )

3.2 A 13-04U = 6 )

1.65

Sem i- s k i 1 led 35.96 (n = A 1)

3A. A3 47-83(n = 2 2 )

A2.9A

Unsk i 1 led manua 1

20.18(n=23)

17-66 A. 35 (n = 2 )

0.26

Service occupat ion

15.79(n = 18)

7. AO •—sCO LA • II

0 c 8.34

Rural - 0 . 5A - 0.23

'Monthly Report of District Transactions'. Figures as

Employment Office at 27.3.75.

- 2 5 -

The a pp ro x im at i on s b etween the survey sample and the C o mm onw ea lth Empl oyment Service f i ­gures are g en er all y very close. N e v e r t h e ­less, the above table indicates that there is an u n d e r - r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of clerical and a d mi n is t r a t i v e personnel and an o v e r - r e p r e ­sentation of females in the 'other skilled* category. Some d if fi c ul t y was encountered in coding female m ac hi n is ts and it is s u s ­pected that the latter d i ff erence results simply from our tendency to classify c e r ­tain female m ac hi n is t s as 'other skilled* whi le the C om mo nw e al th E mp loyment Service seems to have c at e go r iz ed them as 'semi­skilled*. In general, the survey results bear a striking r es em bla nc e to C ommonwealth Employment S ervice s ta tistics and indicate that unem pl oy ed persons are very a ccurately represented in the sample according to job classification.

The official figures clearly indicate that persons with fewer job skills are the most v u ln er ab le members of the labour force. G en erally speaking, persons possessing job skills are u nt ou che d by the current u n e m p l o y ­ment crisis. Wor ker s with few skills tend to be less essential c o nt r ib u to rs to p r o d u c t i ­vity and are, therefore, more s us ce ptible to being rendered u ne mp l oy e d when profit m a r ­gins are threatened. Since they have fewer skills to sell on the job market the d i f f i ­culty of their situation is further e x a c e r ­bated.

(f ) Duration of U n e m p l o ym en t

Although none of the results reached s t a t i s ­tical si gn if ic a nc e the length of u ne mployment was m a r g in a ll y g reater among workers without secondary education; migrants; females, and m i dd l e-a ge d people.

- 2 6 -

U n emp loy me nt b en eficiaries were not out of work for longer periods than those unemployed people, such as married persons whose spouse was still in work, w ho were ineligible for benefit.Only when length of u nemployment was cross- tabulated with the incidence of previous u n ­employment was there a significant statistical result ( p < 0 .01). The direction of the s i g n i ­ficance is opposite to what would probably be predicted. Length of unemployment was inver­sely related to the frequency of previous u n ­employment, probably reflecting the tendency noted during the survey for persons coming from jobs in which they had worked for some time to be jolted by u n e x p e c t e d (unemployment into making a careful reappraisal of their job f u t u r e .

In the current situation, with the number of people out of work being far in excess of total job vacancies, it is to be expected that the length of time people remain unemployed will be longer than is normally the case. In May, 1974, for example, the average period of u n ­empl oy me nt was 7-6 w e e k s . 17 |n November,1974, the figure was steady at 7.4 we ek s. 18 By May, 1975, at a time of high unemployment and scarcity of jobs, the average length of unemployment had risen to 12.7 w e e k s . 19 Because job vacancies have remained scarce since then the trend in average duration of u n emp loy me nt continues to be upwards. This trend is reflected in the larger duration of unemployed among the survey sample which was gathered over a period extending beyond the time for which comparable national figures are available.

17. The L a b o u r F o r c e , May, 1974. A u s t r a l i a nB u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s . p.12.

18. The L a b o u r F o r c e , N o v e m b e r , 1974. A u s t r a ­li an B u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s , p.14.

19. The L a b o u r F o r c e , May, 1975. op. cit. p.21.

- 2 7 -

TABLE 6: U N EM PLO YE D P E R SONS BY AVERAGE DURATIONOF U N E M P L O YM E NT (in weeks) BY AGE~

Aged 20 Years £ over

Aged 15-19 Years

TotalU n e m p 1oyed Persons

Males Su rvey Sample 1 7 • **0 12.97 16.76NationalFigures* 12. AO 1 A . 0 0 12.80

F e m a 1es Survey Samp 1e 11.82 25.69

roLTV

NationalFigures* 11.70 1 A. A0 12.70

All Persons Su rvey Sample 15-90 17 • AA 16.25National F i g u r e s * 12.10 1 A . 20 12.70

* S o u r c e : t r a 1 i an

'The Labour F o r c e 1 , May, Bureau of Statistics.

1 975 . Aus-

The following table provides a further analysis of the same situation:

TABLE 7: UNEM PLO YE D PERSONS BY DURATION OFU NE MP LO Y ME NT

Duration

All Persons

Survey Sample National Figures*% %

Under 2 weeks 7.50 11.19

2 weeks S under 4 weeks 11.87 17-07

4 weeks & under 8 weeks 16.26 19-50

8 weeks & under 13 weeks 21.87 17-46

13 weeks & over 42.50 34.78

* Sou r c e : 'The Labour F o r c e 1, May, 1 975 , A u s t r a ­lian Bureau of Statistics.

Since the relationship between the number of people out of work and the number of job vacancies has been an inverse one only a very small percentage of u nemployed people are successful in finding new work quickly. It can be seen that for almost two-thirds of the sample, it is at least two months before they are able to gain fresh e m p l o y ­ment.

- 2 9 -

More than a third of ail unemployed persons are w ithout work for over three months. For n u ­merous people, then, the eco no mi c burden of being trapped'in such a situation will be con- s i de rab 1 e .

(g ) Numbers Clai min g U n em pl oy me nt Benefit

Consistent with the slight o ver-rep resentation of males in the survey sample and the 2:1 ratio of male over female claimants, the p ercentage of u nem pl oy m en t benefit recipients is somewhat higher (1 6%) than is the case in general.

TABLE 8: U N E M P L O Y M E N T BENEFIT CLAIMANTS AS APROP ORT IO N OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF U N E M PL OY E D PERSONS

Survey Sample Me 1bou rne me t r o p o 1 i tan area*

Totalu n e m p 1oyed persons 160 49,205*

Total in rece i pt of U n em pl oym en t Benef i t 125 30,553*

% of Une mp loy ed persons in re­ceipt of U n e m p l o y ­ment Benef i t 00 6 2 . 1

.i. Source: ‘M onthly R eview of the Employment Situation, May, 1975. Department of Labor S Immigration, p .15 -

- 3 0 -

W i de spr ea d a llegations have been made since the advent of the u n em pl oyment crisis of people bludging on the dole. in this context it is rarely observed that a pp ro ximately four out of every ten unemployed persons who register with the Commonwealth Employment Service are not in receipt of unemployment benefit at all.

Restrictions on e l ig i bility for unemployment benefit apply to u nemployed persons under s i x ­teen years of age, u nemployed married persons whose spouse is in receipt of u ne mployment b e n e ­fits or an e qu ivalent amount in wages, and to persons who are 'regarded as having refused or failed w ithout good and sufficient reason to accept an offer of employment ... in his usual occu pat io n ... or in which the person's e x p e r ­ience, q u al if ica ti ons and training could be u s e d '.20

The actual proportion of claimants for u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit is even lower than the figures in Table 8 indicate. As the traditionally higher u ne mployment figures reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics testify, many unemployed people do not register with the Commonwealth Employment Service. Without doing so their e li gi bil it y for u n em ployment benefit cannot be a s s e s s e d .

The survey findings indicate, also, that numerous unemployed persons who are eligible for u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit lodge a c 1 a i rp for it only after their own' initial search for jobs has borne no fruit.

20. C a m e r o n , C l yd e, (then M i n i s t e r f o r L a b o r & I m m i g r a t i o n ) : P r e s s r e l e a s e h e a d e d :'U n e m p l o y m e n t B e n e f i t a n d the W o r k T e s t ' , 22 /7 4, A p r i l 14, 1974.

-31 -

(h ) D ependent Children

For details of the marital status and the number of d ep endent children of u n employed people one is, again, reliant on u np ub lished material that has been made a v ai l ab l e by the Department of Social Security in M e l b o u r n e . ^1 These details pertain only to u ne mp lo y me nt benefit claimants. The p ro portion of m arried to single persons is as f o i l o w s :

TABLE 9 •' U N E M P L O Y M E N T B ENEFIT CLAIMANTS BY M AR IT A L STATUS

Nos . Married

Nos . Single

%Married

%Single

U/B claimants in s u rvey samp 1e 36 89 28.8 71-2

Me 1b . m e t r o ­politan a rea* 9 2 9 k 23508 28.33 71.67

* S o u r c e : Departmentter pr in t-out dated

of Social 12/5/75.

Secu r i ty compu

2 1 . C o m p u t e r p r i n t - o u t : op. cit.

- 3 2 -

It was not possible to assess accurately the n u m ­ber of A us tr ali an s who are dependent on u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit. However, the table below provides reasonable criteria upon which an assessment may be based.

TABLE 10: U NE MP LO Y ME NT BENEFIT CLAIMANTS BYDEPENDENT CHILDREN*

. T o t a 1 No. of U / B C 1 a i m a n t s

T o t a l N o . of D e p e n d . Chn .

A v e r a g e No. of D e p . Chn .

M e 1 b . Me t r o p . a r e a * * 3 2 , 8 0 2 1 1 , 1 2 1 0.3**

T o t a l S u r v e y S a m p l e : 125 65 0 . 5 2

* 'Dependent c h i l d r e n 1 refers to all persons under 16 years of age and to full-time students who are living at h o m e .

* S o u r c e : Department of Social Security computerprint-out dated 12/5/75.

If a married to single rate of 1:3 and an average of 0.3** dependent children per unemployment b e n e ­fit claimant is m aintained across Australia, then, for May, 1975, just over a quarter of a million Au str al ian s were e co no mi ca ll y reliant on u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit. Despite recent increases in u n em ­ployment benefit levels, they continue to hover around estimates of the poverty lines.

r

- 3 3 -

ln summary, there is reason to believe that the survey sample is g e ne rally r e p r e s e n t a ­tive of the total u n em plo ye d group in the community. Certainly, the research findings relate to a s ignificant group of unemployed persons ia a_ny case. The preceding c o m p a r i ­son of the survey results with official s t a ­tistics, however, gives cause for believing that there is j u s t i f i c a t i o n in attributing the findings to u n em plo ye d people in g e n e ­ral .

The discu ss io n of the c o mp osition of the overaii group of u n em plo ye d persons indi­cates the following summation:

1. Greater numbers of men are u n e m ­ployed; but women are unemployed in d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e numbers to men when their resp ective m e m b e r ­ships w ithin the w or k force are taken into c onsideration.

2. About one in every three unemployed persons is under t w enty-one yearsof age. This figure indicates that, in terms of the c om p os it io n of the labour force, young persons are a l ­so o v e r - r e p r e s e n t e d among the un- e m p 1o y e d .

3. T ypically, unem plo ye d people are poorly educ ate d and have few job skills.

A. Certain m igrant groups are d i s p r o ­p or ti o na te l y numb ere d among the un- e m p 1o y e d .

- 3 4 -

5. Almost two-thirds of the unemployed group do not manage to find new work within two months of becoming unem-p 1o y e d .

6. About four out of every ten u n e m ­ployed persons who register with the a pp r op r ia te a uthority are not u n em pl oym en t benefit claimants.

7. Including spouses and dependent c h i l ­dren of the u nemployed in the vicinity of a quarter of a million Australians are c ur rently reliant on unemployment benef i t .

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S :

3.3 That a s t an dar di zed procedure be e s t a b ­lished between government departments for gathering and reporting s t a t i s ­tics on the number of unemployed persons. (p - 1 3 )

3.4 That c om pr e he n si ve statistics on u n e m ­ployment, including information on the age, marital status, number of dependents, educational and o c c u p a ­tional background of the unemployed, length of time on unemployment b e n e ­fit, with rural/urban breakdowns, be gathered on a regular monthly basis. ( P-13)

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C HAPTER 4

THE IMPACT OF U N E M P L OY ME NT

The direct impact of being rendered unemployed was t yp ically a blow to s el f - e s t e e m accompanied by a r ecognition of immediate or imminent finan cial strain. In general, u ne mp lo ym en t was not expected. As one man put it: 1 i feel reallyannoyed that u ne mp lo y me nt should happen to me.'

The m a j o r it y of unem pl oye d persons had only meag re financial resources to draw on and, as a c on se quence, many persons were immediately d ep en de nt on u ne mp l oy me n t benefit. Given the scar ci ty of job vacancies, u ne mployment was often prolonged. Almost invariably this re­sulted in growing financial hardship and im­posed emotional stress on unemployed persons and their fami lies.

Financial S it uation of the Unemployed

Because u n em plo ye d persons had g en erally worked in low status and low paid jobs their o p p o r t u ­nity to develop e co n om i c stability through re­gular saving was n egligible. Over two-thirds of unem pl oy ed persons in the survey had received job earn in gs that were $20 or more below a v e r ­age w e ek ly earn ing s in A u s t r a l i a . 1 Only S% received wages in excess of the national a v e r ­age. The a tt endant d if fi c ul ty of e st ab li sh in g financial resources is reflected in the f o l ­lowing table: 2

2 . In the M a r c h q u a r t e r a v e r a g e g r o s s w e e k l y e a r n i n g s in A u s t r a l i a w e r e $ 1 5 2 . 6 0 . A u s ­t r a l i a n B u r e a u o f C e n s u s & S t a t i s t i c s . B u l l e t i n e n t i t l e d W a g e R a t e s an d E a r n i n g s .

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TABLE 11: BANK BALANCE

’ersons 21 yrs >f age & over

*

Persons under 21 yrs of age

2

All Persons

%

$0 1*0.0 50.0 1*2.5(n=A8) (n = 2 0 ) (n=68)

$1-10 11.7 30.0 16.2(n=1l») (n=12; (n=26 )

$11-50 5.9 7-5 6.3(n-7) ln-3) (n = 10)

$51-100 5.8 2.5 5.0(n = 7) (n=1 ) (n = 8)

$101-200 6.7 2.5 5.6(n = 8 J (n= 1 ) ln=9)

$201 -1*00 10.0 7.5 9.4(n = 12 ) (n = 3 ) ln=15)

$1*00 or 20.0 - 15-0more (n=2A) (n = 0) ( n = 2 H )

As well as unde rsc or ing the socio-e co no mi c p o s i ­tion of the unemployed, the above figures indi­cate to what extent they may be reliant on prompt payment of benefit entitlements. Almost identi­cal findings are reported in the main publication of the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty.-

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A survey of Social Security b en ef iciaries found that 'the m aj or it y had little or no buffer against any potential financial crisis; 67£ had cash savings and other liquid assets of less than $50. If one a r bi tr ar ily took $200 as the m i ni mu m b u f ­fer against any potential financial crisis, only 21% had adeq uat e r e s e r v e s . 1 2

Married adults with a p re vi ou sl y stable work re­cord had the h ealthiest bank balances. No re­lationship was found between the number of d e ­pendent children and the person's bank balance. Young people usually had no o p p o rt un it y to save b ecause they had been on a very low wage or had been in the w or k force for only a short while. G en erally speaking, single u nemployed adults had smaller bank deposits than their married c ou nterparts. They were reliant on the one income and in not q ua li f yi ng for Housing C o m ­mission of Victoria premises, they often paid a very high prop ort io n of their w eekly wage in rent.

Those persons who have bank balances are able to delay an a pp l ic a ti on for unempl oy me nt b e n e ­fit and c on t em p la te their job future somewhat coolly. Several people commented that it was d e pr es sin g to see their bank accounts slipping away and that they could not rely on their own resources for any length of time. However, the extra d if fic ul ty of coping on u ne mployment b e n e ­fit w it ho u t any financial reserves is i l l u st ra ­ted by the following remark made by a twenty- seven year old married man:

"My w e ek l y e x p e n di t ur e is twice what I get in u n em plo ym ent benefit. But I've sold some shares and I still have $200 left in the bank. I just w onder how people w ho aren't so well off can get by . "

A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t o P o v e r t y , P o v e r t y in A u s t r a l i a , ( C a n b e r r a , A p r i l , 1 9 7 5 . ) p . 1 3 3 .

2.

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In spite of their usual absence of significant savings, more than a quarter of the survey sample did not register for unemployment b e n e ­fit until at least two weeks after becoming u n ­employed. In the meantime, these persons sought a job on their own initiative and lived on w h a t ­ever financial reserves they possessed rather than claim their benefit entitlement. Some p e r ­sons without a bank balance to draw on also d e ­clined to claim benefit from the outset and used the lump sum payment they had received at the time of becoming unemployed to retain their f i ­nancial independence for as long as possible. However, 44% of unemployed persons received no lump sum from their past employer.

TABLE 12: LUMP SUM PAYMENTS*

P e r s o n s 21 y r s P e r s o n s u n d e r A 1 1 P e r s o n sa g e | o v e r 21 y r s ^ o f a g e

%

$0 4 2 . 5 5 0 . 0 4 4 . 4(n = 5 1 ) ( n = 2 0 ) (n = 71 )

$ 1 - 4 0 5 . 0 1 2 . 5 6 . 9(n = 6) (n = 5 ) l n = 11)

$ 4 1 - 8 0 4 . 2 1 5 . 0 6 . 9

D II (n = 6) (n = 11)

$81 - 1 6 0 1 5 - 0 1 0 . 0 1 3 . 7(n = 1 8 J (n = 4 ) (n = 2 2 )

$ 1 6 1 - 3 0 0 21 .7 1 0 . 0 1 8 . 8( n = 2 6 ) U = 4) ( n = 3 0 )

M o r e t h a n 1 1 . 7 2 . 5 9. A$ 3 0 0 (n = 1 4) ■ (n = 1 ) l n = 15)

* These payments include holiday pay, severance pay and any other payment received by the p e r ­son at the time of being rendered unemployed.

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From the point of view of the unemployed, the f r e ­quent absence of a lump sum payment upon being rendered unem plo ye d and the usual absence of a lt e rn a ti v e financial resources demands an imme­diate reliance on u ne mp lo y me nt benefit as their sole means of support. R egardless of a state of penury, persons r egistering for unemployment b e n e ­fit are not e l ig ibl e for any payment for the first week of their unemployment.

Waiting Period for Benefit

Unem pl oym ent benefit is paid to eligible persons only after they have served out a statutory seven day wa it in g period. The waiting period for u n e m ­ployment benefit is designed to act as an incen­tive to the unem plo ye d to find new work within a few days of becoming unem pl oyed and to limit the a d mi n is t r a t i v e load caused by appli ca ti on s for u n ­empl oy men t benefit.

Due to delays in proc ess in g claims for benefit the actual period that elapses before benefit is paid is usually in excess of a fortnight. By this time, rent and other bills may be overdue and the ne ce ss it y of borrowing money for food and other essential items causes additional stress and awkward b u dg et ar y a rr angements.

Speaking to the Senate Estimates Committee on April 17, 1975, a r ep r es e nt at iv e of the D e p a r t ­ment of Social Security reported that 'something like 85% of c la imants were receiving their initial u n em pl oym en t b enefit cheque within nine or ten days from the time their claim was lodged.'3 The e x pe ri enc e of persons in the current survey sample co nt rasts so sharply with that assessment as to cause serious doubts on the reliability of the earlier, official estimates.

H a n s a r d : S e n a t e , M r K. K i m b a l l , F i r s t A s s i s ­tant D i r e c t o r - G e n e r a l ( M a n a g e m e n t ) , D e p a r t ­m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y . R e p o r t to S e n a t e E s t i m a t e s C o m m i t t e e , A p r i l 17, 1 9 75 , p .1 7 2 .

3.

- k o -

Merely 1k% of u ne mp loyment benefit claimants in the survey sample had received their initial cheque within two weeks of lodging their claim for benefit. One in every seven claimants waited for a month or more after application for b e n e ­fit before their first cheque came through.

In the case of persons who had been retrenched due to the effect of tariff policies and, who, therefore, qualified for income m ai nt enance p a y ­ment (payment of full wage for up to six months),

•delays in receiving the first payment were even more severe. Some unemployed persons w aited for more than three months for their first benefit cheque. Consequently, some people found t he m ­selves penniless m endicants one month and (tem­porarily) affluent the next.

At a time of inevitable financial hardship res ul ­ting from what is typically a substantia] drop in income from a w e ek ly wage to unemployment benefit, people find it necessary to budget more carefully than usual. Erratic arrival of cheques confounds this need and produces situations of stress. Forty-two per cent of the u nemployment benefit claimants in the survey encountered delays in receiving cheques subsequent to the initial p a y ­ment. For seven out of every ten people in that position the delay meant that there was no income for upwards of a fortnight.

It is ackn ow led ge d that the sudden increase in the number of unemployed persons placed considerable strains on a dm i ni s tr at iv e staff and that the b u r e a u ­cratic m achine was bound to show symptoms of this rapid upturn in workload. Yet, the problem p e r ­sists that people are often under financial duress because their benefit entitlement has not arrived and no adequate provision is made for emergency relief payments in such instances. The hardship e ngendered by delayed payments is often s u b s t a n ­tial. Since the delays are not the fault of the unemployed they should not be expected to bear the c on se quences of them.

It is only by the e s ta b li s h m e n t of adequate e m e r ­gency pr ovision that such a situation may be averted. **

This would not, in itself, e li mi na te the problems caused by the c o m p ul so r y seven day waiting period. C o ns id er in g that many unem ployed people have u r ­gent financial need from the time they lose their job, it appears inimical to have a wait in g period at all. Presumably, the rationale for having a w a it in g period is to reduce the adm in is tr at iv e load and to e n co u ra g e the unemployed to find a job within the first few days of unemployment.On this basis, the w a it in g period deters the u n ­empl oy ed from early regi st ration for benefit.The logic seems to rest on the premises that the u nemployed need to be goaded into early j o b ­seeking and that they can afford to go without money for the first w ee k or so of their u n e m ­ployment. Those survey results discussed e a r ­lier in this section suggest that both premises are e ss e nt i al ly false. The indications are that the unemp lo ye d often set about finding their own job and make a pp l ic a ti on for benefit only after that initial search has proven unsuccessful and their money is running low. Most u n e m p 1o y e d ' per- sons do not have financial resources to fall back on and, therefore, require their benefit e n t i t l e ­ment immediately. Since the assumptions u n d e r l y ­ing the need for a w a i ti n g period seem to be i nac­curate and its very e x is t en ce places numerous people in e x ce s si v e hardship, there would appear to be a bs ol u te ly no j u s t if ic at io n for its p r e s e r ­vation. 4

4. F o r a fu ll d i s c u s s i o n o f the c u r r e n t i n a d e q u a ­c i e s o f e m e r g e n c y p f o v i s i o n in A u s t r a l i a , the r e a d e r is r e f e r r e d to E m e r g e n c y R e l i e f , a r e p o r t c o n d u c t e d by D a v i d G r i f f i t h s o f the B r o t h e r h o o d o f St L a u r e n c e , on b e h a l f o f the A u s t r a l i a n G o ­v e r n m e n t S o c i a l W e l f a r e C o m m i s s i o n ( C a n b e r r a , 1 9 75 .)

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Wage and Benefit Levels

The survey results indicate that, on average, adults suffered a drop of $58.19 in total weekly income when they became unemployed. For persons under twenty-one years of age, the average drop from w eekly earnings (including overtime payments) to u ne mp loyment benefit amounted to $26.18. O v e r ­all, being unemployed represented a 5 9% decrease in weekly income. It becomes apparent that u n e m ­ployment imposes a very c onsiderable financial burden on people, e s pe cially those with regular, heavy financial commitments. The financial d i f ­ficulties o ri gi nat e in low weekly wages, are e x a ­cerbated by the lack of o pp or tunity to acquire financial resources and then compounded by impo­verishing u ne mp loyment benefits.

in the March quarter of 1975, the average weekly wage per employed male unit stood at $ 1 5 2 .60. 5 Only 9% of persons in the survey sample had a weekly wage that was above the national average.An o ve rw h el mi n g majority received weekly income that was much closer to the adult weekly minimum wage of $80. 00 gross, than to average weekly earnings. The following table gives a b r e a k ­down of the amount of 'take-home' pay in the survey persons' most recent job. 5

5. M a g e R a t e s a n d E a r n i n g s , op. cit.

6 . A s at M a y , 19 7 5 .

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TABLE 13: WEEK LY 'TAKE-HOME' PAY IN LAST JOB

Persons 21 yrs of age S over

3

Persons under 21 yrs of age

3

All Persons

2

$80 or 30.43 70.59 39.60less ( n= 3 5) (n=24) (n = 59)

$81-95 2 8 . 7 0 14.71 25.50(n=33) (n = 5 ) (n=38)

$96- 19.13 11.76 1 7 ^ 5105 (n=22) (n = 4) (n=26)

$106- 15.65 2.94 12.75125 (n = 18) (n= 1 ) (n=19)

$126 or 6.09 0.00 4.70more (n = 7) (n = 0) (n = 7)

Total n= 149.

* Eleven people were e x cl ude d because they have p r e ­viously been f ul l-time students or worked part- time only.

The wo rke rs who are most s us ce pt ib le to u n e m p l o y ­ment are c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y the least well-paid in their jobs. N ec essary weekly e x p e n di tu re tends to absorb their net income, leaving little (if any) in reserve.

- k k -

With regard to married couples, both persons worked in a p pr o xim at ely half of the marriages; but, even here, the combined weekly income was usually not a great deal higher than the a v e r ­age weekly earnings of a single work force unit in Australia. Thus, it can be seen that the financial situation of unemployed persons is usually less than secure even before they b e ­come jobless. Only a handful have savings that they can rely on for more than a couple of weeks .

For the majority of unemployed people, claiming their right to u ne mp loyment benefit is their only means of economic survival. Bearing this in mind it is essential that unemployment b e n e ­fit levels be adequate and regularly adjusted to ensure that they remain above subsistence levels, at least. At the time that the survey was conducted, u ne mp loyment levels were as fo 11 ows 7

Single Person : $36.00 weekly

Married couple : $60.00 11

The a ll owance for each dependent child (under 16 years of age) equals $7-00 weekly.

In spite of recent increases in benefit levels, . it still remains very difficult for large n u m ­bers of unemployed persons to cope financially while dependent on u ne mployment benefits. This is e vi denced by a comp arison of unemployment benefit levels with poverty line estimates.

F r o m N o v e m b e r 4, 1975 , u n e m p l o y m e n t b e n e f i t l e v e l s will be: S i n g l e p e r s o n s (over 18y e ar s o f age) - $ 3 8 . 7 5 w e e k l y ; M a r r i e d c o u p l e s - $ 6 4 . 5 0 w e e k l y , an d a l l o w a n c e for d e p e n d e n t s - $7.50. S o u r c e : H a n s a r d ,O c t o b e r 15, 1975, p p . 21 12 -1 5.

7 .

TABLE 14: POVERTY LINE E S T I M A T E S ^ 3 ) COMPAREDWITH U NE MP L OY ME N T BENEFIT RATES

Type of Income Uni t

PovertyLineEstimates

(b)

$

U n e m p 1oymen t Benefit

Levels

$

Degree to which Un e m p 1oymen t Benefit falls above (+) or below (-) p o ­verty line

Single person 40.20 36. 00 - 4.20

Marriedcouple 56.90 60. 00 + 3.10

Couple + 1dependentchild 70.40 67 • 00 - 3*40

Couple + 2 d ep endent chi 1d ren 83.80 74.00 - 9-80

Couple + 3 dependent chi 1d ren 97.10 81.00 - 16.10

Couple + 4 dependent chi 1d ren 110.50 88.00 -22.50

Couple + 5 dependent chi 1d ren 123.30 95.00 -28.30

Coup 1e + 6 dependent chi i d ren 136.10 102.00 -34.10

Couple + 7 dependent child ren 148.90 107.00 -41.90

- 4 6 -

The poverty line is drawn according to estimates of persons' subsistence levels. As such, it o f ­fers no guarantee of economic security. Yet, it can be seen from the above table that u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit levels generally fall below poverty line estimates. Only a married couple with no children receives an unemployment benefit that is in excess of the poverty line estimate. The gap between the level of unemployment benefit and the poverty line estimate widens s i g n i f i ­cantly with each dependent child. Thus, it is evident that to be unemployed is to be (at least, temporarily) impoverished: to be unemployed withcont in uin g heavy financial commitments such as high rent and/or hire purchase payments and only meagre savings is to be insolvent. Over a third of the persons interviewed were forced to borrow money in order to meet their financial o b l i g a ­tions.

When both partners in a marriage work, it is common for financial commitments to be u n d e r ­taken on the basis of their combined weekly income. In the event of one person becoming unemployed and the other remaining in work no benefit is paid to the unemployed person. If the two of them become unemployed then benefit is paid to them as a married couple. However, the benefit e ntitlement to a married couple is less than that which two single people would rece i v e .

W i t h r e f e r e n c e to T a b l e 14:

(a) E s t i m a t e d P o v e r t y L i n e s as at J u n e Q u a r t e r ,1975. S o u r c e : C o m m i s s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t oP o v e r t y . F i r s t M a i n R e p o r t , A p r i l , 1975. ' P o v e r t y in Australia'-, A p p e n d i x G., p. 35 7.

(b) P o v e r t y L i n e e s t i m a t e s r e p o r t e d in T a b l e 14 r e f e r to h o u s e h o l d s in w h i c h the H e a d is n o t w o r k i n g .

- k 7 -

It seems quite a no malous to pay u ne mployment b e n e ­fit on the basis of marital status rather than work force membership. L ow-income earners w i t h ­out assets and with heavy financial commitments ■ are e s p e ci a ll y hard-hit by the massive drop from a joint income to a m eagre unemployment benefit. Payment of benefit a cc ording to persons' previous (and intended) work force participation, rather than their marital status, would a c k n ow le dg e in­dividual labour c o n tr i bu ti on s and go some way towards enabling m arried people to retain their usual standard of living.

The other i rr eg ularity in payment of unemployment benefit is in regard to persons under eighteen years of age whos e benefit level is to remain static when others' benefits are next increased. Young people are f requently forced into work early because of family poverty. Other persons under eight ee n years old will be living away from home, perhaps having left their rural homes for larger centres of employment. It is difficult enough for b e ne f ici ar ies to subsist at present without sections of them being p enalized by having their benefit pegged, e s pe cia ll y at a time of high in­flation.

Unem pl oy ed people with heavy financial commitments, eith er through high rents, hire purchase debts, a family requiring heavy w e ek ly expenditure, and so on, invariably found themselves quickly in debt. Predictably, the longer the person remains on un­employment benefit the g reater the hardship.The Poverty Inquiry o b se rves that: 'Of thoseon benefit less than six months, G0% were s p e n ­ding at least more than they received each week, i.e. they were e ff e ct iv el y ''dissaving". T hi r ty - fo u r per cent were dissaving by more than $20 a week.

8. H a n s a r d , H o u s e o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s ,H a y d e n , W i l l i a m ; 1 9 7 5 - 7 6 B u d g e t S p e e c h , No. 13, 19 75, p .5 6 .

- A 8 -

The level of dissaving for those on benefit for more than six months was less, probably because there were very few assets left to be disposed of. These figures e mp ha sise the urgency both of increases in benefit rates and of measures to assist people to adjust to a sudden u n e x p e c ­ted drop in i n c o m e . ‘9 At best, unemployment benefit affords people only a very basic, hand- to-mouth e xi st enc e In order to meet high costs in one area (for example, excessive rent), it is necessary to cut back on normal, essential e xp en dit ur e in other areas. Accordingly, the unemployed often reported a change from a b a ­lanced diet to starchy foods, insufficient clothing and shoes for children, and a reluc­tance to consult doctors because of the costs i n v o 1ved . 1 0

The present Federal Government is to be c o m m e n ­ded for its efforts to raise unemployment b e n e ­fit away from a punitive level towards a r ealis­tic and humane figure. However, the survey re­sults, combined with a consideration of poverty line estimates, demons trate that benefit levels, espec ia ll y allowances for dependents, are still in need of revision so that persons rendered unemployed are able to cope financially and are not subjected to the indignities of forced borrowing in order to cover essential costs.

It is n oteworthy that instead of the continuance of a government policy to fix pensions at a quarter of average weekly earnings that the 1975/76 Federal Budget has introduced a scheme w he re b y future pension and benefit levels will now be fixed against the consumer price index.

9. P o v e r t y I n q u i r y . op. cit., p . 13 4.

10. S u r v e y i n t e r v i e w s to ok p l a c e p r i o r to the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f M e d i b a n k .

- b s -

ln a n no unc in g this in the Budget Speech,^Mr Hayden noted that the increase in average w ee kl y earnings in the December quarter had exceeded the increase in consumer prices during the same period - 56% compared with **1%. The report of the Poverty Inquiry also notes that the consumer price index rises more slowly than a verage weekly earnings and that the real in­come of pensioners and b en ef ic ia ri es would not be mai nta ine d by linking their income to the consumer price i n d e x : ^

"The consumer price index is a quarterly m easure of vari ati on s in retail prices for goods and services representing a high prop ort io n of the exp en di tu re of wage earner h o us e ho l ds ." ^3

As the Poverty Inquiry observes:

"... wage earner hous eholds are much b e t ­ter off than p ensioners; their pattern of e x p e n di t ur e is therefore not the same.A rise in food prices, for instance, will be much more serious for pensioners than its rise in the cons umer price index in­d ic at es. " 1 ̂

As well as seeming much more sensible to index income through pensions and benefits to average week ly earnings, it would also seem to offer the only gu ar an te e that their value, relative to wages and salaries, will remain constant.

11. H a n s a r d : H o u s e o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s , M r W.H a y d e n , B u d g e t S p e e c h , A u g u s t 19, 1975 , p . 5 6

12. P o v e r t y I n g u i r y , op. cit. , p .47.

13. O f f i c i a l Y e a r B o o k o f the C o m m o n w e a l t h , 1972.

14. P o v e r t y I n q u i r y , op. c i t . , ^ p . 4 8 .

- 5 0 -

Financial Commitments

The heaviest financial commitment was in res­pect of accom mo dat io n costs. An analysis of the nature of o cc upancy by persons in the s u r ­vey reveals the following breakdown:

TABLE 15: NATURE OF O CCUPANCY

Descr i pt i on *

Tenant in Private Sector 41

Tenant to Housing Commission of Victoria 8

O wn er -O cc u pi er (or paying off own house) 13

Boarding with relatives 29

Other (e.g. hostel, b o a r d i n g ­house, caravan) 9

With regard to the entire survey sample, 37 - 7 % of persons reported difficulties in keeping up to date with rent. Of this group, over a third had e xperienced serious difficulty in meeting a cc om mod at ion costs in that they were three weeks or more behind with payments or had been forced to borrow the equivalent.

In respect of Housing Commission tenants, a rent rebate scheme operates according to which a ceiling may be placed on the rent of persons on low incomes. For example, an unemployed man with a wife and two children, who is aware of the operation of the scheme, may currently apply to have their maximum rent fixed at $14.60 weekly.

- 5 1 -

The feelings of many p rivate tenants were summed up by one man's comment that 'rent is the killer'. The a cco mp an y in g p roblem for unemployed persons caught in a situation of having to pay rent b e ­yond their current means was that they could not usually acq uir e a lt ernative, cheaper acco mm od at io n because they did not have a bond deposit and/or because, being on a low, fixed income, landlords viewed them as poor financial risks and d iscrimina ted against them accordingly.

Young people living at home comprised the only group that was untr oub le d by accom mo da ti on costs. However, since many of these young people had left school at an early age (in part) to subsidise f a ­mily finances the burden of their paying no board (or only nominal amounts) often fell on their p a ­rents. The A u s t ra li a n Council of Trade Unions has es ti ma ted 'that a p os s ib l e 16% of the total j u v e n ­ile w o r k f o r c e had been forced to leave school early and enter p re m at u re ly into the w o r k f or ce for reasons whi ch are indicative of p o v e r t y ' . 15 Older, single people and families renting in the private sector often found a c c om m od at io n costs crippling. Some w ere paying as much as 10% of their u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit in rent even though it is generally accepted that persons should not be expected to pay more than 20-25% of their income in r e n t J “

15. A u s t r a l i a n C o u n c i l o f T r a d e U n i o n s , S u r v e y o f Y o u n g W o r k e r s , r e s e a r c h r e p o r t s u b m i t t e d to the A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t o P o v e r t y , (Canberra', 1 9 7 5 ) , p.5.

16. T h e f i g u r e o f 2 0 - 2 5 % o f i n c o m e as the u p p e rl i m i t o f a p e r s o n ' s i n c o m e ot be p a i d in r e n t h a s b e e n a r b i t r a r i l y d e f i n e d . It h a s b e e n s u g g e s t e d that: 'In fact , the p r o p o r t i o n o fi n c o m e that p o o r f a m i l i e s ca n a l l o c a t e for h o u s i n g is m u c h l e s s in m a n y a r e a s . Wh en,as is the c a s e a m o n g l o w - i n c o m e g r o u p s , up to 75% o f i n c o m e is s p e n t on food, c l o t h i n g a n d t r a n s p o r t , a r e a s o n a b l e a m o u n t f o r a f a ­m i l y to s p e n d f o r h o u s i n g m a y be o n l y 1 0 - 1 5 % ' U.N. P u b l i c a t i o n : P r o p o s a l s fo r A c t i o n onF i n a n c e f o r H o u s i n g , B u i l d i n g a n d P l a n n i n g D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S E c o n o m i c A f f a i r s , 1 9 7 2 E 7 3 ] V .4, p .40.

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The following table indicates the percentage of income that each person had been paying in a c c o m ­modation costs prior to being rendered unemployed:

TABLE 16: A CC OM M OD A TI ON COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF' T A K E - H O M E 1 PAY

Persons 21 yrs Persons under All Persons% of age S over 21 yrs of age

0-10 1 9 - 2 37.5 23.8(n-23) (n-15) (n = 3 8)

1 1-20 38.3 30.0 36.2(n=A6) (n = 12) (n=58)

21-30 27-5 17.5 25.0(n = 3 3) IIc (n = A 0 )

31-40 10.8 10.0 10.6(n=13) (n-A) (n= 1 7)

More than A. 2 5.0 A. AA0 (n = 5) l n = 2 ) (n = 7 )

The perc ent ag e figures are conservative estimates since the accomm od at ion cost was recorded at the time of the interview, i.e. after the person had become unemployed. With the advent of u n e m p l o y ­ment many people in boarding situations with re­latives had all of their accommodation costs . . . waived until they were able to find fresh work.

17 . T h i s f i g u r e c o n s t i t u t e s 8. 1 3 % o f the total s a m p l e .

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Although the figures for the p ercentage of p e r ­sons' u ne mpl oy men t benefit that is absorbed by a cc om m od a ti o n costs are, therefore, also on the c o ns er va tiv e side, the figures do convey the frequency with which the cost for the u n e m ­ployed of merely keeping a roof over their heads i s i m m e n s e .

TABLE 17= A C CO M MO D A T I O N COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF PERSONS' U N E M P LO YM EN T BENEFIT

Persons 21 yrs Persons under All Per-% of age S over 21 yrs of age sons .

0-10 26.7 35-0 28.7(n-32) (n=1A) (n=A6)

1 1-20 5.0 12.5 6.9(n = 6 ) (n = 5) (n = 11)

2 1 - 3 0 13-3 22.5 15.6( n= 1 6) (n = 9 ) (n=25)

31 -AO 23-3 15.0 21.3(n=28) (n = 6 ) (n = 3 A )

More than 31 . 7 15.0 27-5AO 3 II cc (n = 6 ) (n=AA)

About one in every four u nemployed persons in the survey was faced with having to pay in the region of half their u ne mp lo y me nt benefit in rent. When the duration of unem pl oym en t is anything other than very s ho rt - te r m then people caught in this web are c on signed to indebtedness and cut-backs in other e xp e nd i tu re on basic requirements.

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People who were without reasonably priced a c c o m ­modation and who had credit commitments, as well, were e xt remely awkwardly placed. In a couple of cases, hire purchase firms agreed to freeze p a y ­ments until the person was re-employed; but, more commonly, there was no m o r at or iu m on hire purchase payments and creditors threatened re­possession if payments were not kept up to date. One in every four persons in the survey sample had taken on a hire purchase commitment while in full-time employment. Due to the sharp drop in weekly income with the onset of unemployment half of these people reported difficulties in keeping abreast of hire purchase commitments.In four cases, repossession of goods was t hr e a ­tened or enacted and one person had to forfeit the money she had paid towards goods on lay-by.

In the majority of cases a hire purchase a g r e e ­ment had been entered into in order to acquire consumer goods (commonly essential items such as a refrigerator) that are ubiquitous among the higher s o ci o- eco no mic groups. Only through a mo ra to r iu m on payment could persons who were unemployed for any length of time budget s u c ce ss ­fully and g ua rantee retention of the goods they were paying off. It seems totally unreasonable for hire purchase companies to invoke rep os se s­sion threats and to make financial demands during a person's period of involuntary unemployment.

Interviewers asked people if they had any other major financial commitment. Such was the o v e r ­all financial position of respondents that many people thought of a bill for $5 or less as being a major item of expenditure. Gas and electricity bills had to be met, but the most common report was of outsta nd in g medical bills. With the intro­duction of Medibank on July 1, 1975, the problem of meeting steep medical bills will vanish, though medical expenses incurred before that date remain a major debt for numerous unemployed people.

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One in eve ry four persons who were interviewed reported having medical bills they could not meet at the time, thus u n derscoring the extent to w hi c h medical expenses represent a financial burden for persons on pensions or low incomes.

As a f un cti on of low weekly wages when in work, lack of financial resources and inadequate b e n e ­fit levels numerous unemployed people (35% of the sample) find themselves in debt; 41 % of that group w er e in debt by $100 or more. The extent of debt rises in proportion to the length of u n e m p l o y m e n t and often represents a f o r m i d ­able sum that cannot easily be repaid even when new work is found. U nderstandably, this p r o ­duces c o n s i d e r a b l e anxiety and augments the f ru st r at io n s of the unemployed.

Emot i o n a 1 Impact

A l th ou gh no syst ema ti c attempt was made through the present survey to develop a detailed a p p r e ­ciation of the emotional response of the u n e m ­ployed to their situation since such a task was not central to the aims of the present inquiry, several q ue st i on s were d el ibe ra te ly left open- ended so as to elicit q ua l it at iv e responses.

Given that people are prone to des cr ib e t h e m ­selves in terms of what they do and that the major part of one's waki ng life is spent in work a cti vity, it can be seen that loss of one's job represents a cha llenge to one's very self-iden ti ty. Unem plo ye d persons in the survey comm on ly e xp ressed feel-ings of bore do m through being w ith o ut a regular occupation; f r u s t r a ­tion at not being able to get back into the work force; and perlexity about their declining financial position and their loss of financial i n d e p e n d e n c e .

Probably because a ccusations of bludging have been primarily directed at young people, they, in particular, defended themselves against such charges and expressed most sensitivity about being stigmatized as voluntarily idle and doting on the supposed largesse of the g o v e r n m e n t .

The following remarks by young people are c ha r ac t er i st i c of others advanced by unem- p 1oyed p e r s o n s :

"People dislike you because you're unemployed and say that you're living off the government. It makes you feel really angry."

'It (unemployment) makes you feel a lesser class person. People call you a bludger and it makes you feel bad . "

The majority of young people recognized that prolonged u ne mp loyment was producing a i m l e s s ­ness and mili tat in g against their eventual a d ­justment to regular work. One seven teen-year old mentioned that:

"... it's O.K. being able to sleep in every day,"

but nearly all young people felt disturbed by their unemployment and wanted to get into work quickly. As one young man commented:

"Being unemployed made me feel really lazy. You have no discipline and it gets so you can't be bothered doing anything. I'm desperate to get work."

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Young people had been the least settled in work and were less certain about the type of job they w anted to occupy in the future. Resultantly, they had g en erally been more frequently u n e m ­ployed than adults and more mobile in jobs in an a ttempt to find their niche in the work force. Their previous job m o b i l it y was often i naccu­rately interpreted by potential employers as an indication of low c ommitment to w ork rather than an e nd eavour to find a p articular job in which they could remain contented. However, the scarcity of job o p p or t un it ie s forced many young people to abandon their specific job preferences. As one seventeen year-old e x ­plained:

"People put you down b ecause you've been unemployed. You get labelled as lazy because you haven't got work ... even if y ou've been really trying hard to get a job. I was fussy about jobs at first, but I'll take anything now."

Several people who had alr eady been in the work force for a decade or more and laboured in u n ­sati sf yin g jobs found that unempl oy me nt p r e c i p i ­tated a r ea ss essment of their job futures. Some of these people searched for a fresh field of e m ­ployment (or training) that would p ro sp ectively offer improved job security. However, due to their m eagre financial circumstances, only when payment could be provided through the training course were the unem plo ye d able to contemplate such an exercise. Given the d ifficulty of g a i n ­ing approval for suit abl e training courses and the limited number of job o p p or tu ni ti es for people w ithout training, attempts to develop a new job dir ect io n were often in vain.

The o ve r -r i di ng feeling of the unemployed was one of acute f ru st rat io n at not being able to return to the w or k force. This seemed to be felt regardless of the person's age or any other f a c t o r s .

While younger people tended to emphasise their b oredom and their unease about remaining d e p e n ­dent on their parents, unemployed persons with families tended to stress the emotional tension that arose in response to financial hardship.

In another context, a close connection between unemployed persons' emotional response and their econo mi c situation was n o t e d . E m o ­tional dec lin e was found to parallel economic decline. The findings of the current survey support that conclusion. As a married man with three children commented:

"My wife and I have never argued before, but lately we don't seem to do anything else. There's a lot of tension because we're worried about the kids. They've got hardly any clothing left. I have to go out on the balcony or else I feel couped up. I've gone all over the place for work."

Even though no specific question was included to gauge people's emotional response to u n e m ­ployment, G0% of persons in the survey s p o n ­taneously reported a state of disquiet. A l ­most wit hou t exception, distress and privation were present as symptoms of unemployment.

18. M. J a h o d a , P. L a z a r s f e l d <£ H. Ze i s a l ,M a r i e n t h a l : The S o c i o g r a p h y o f an U n e m ­p l o y e d C o m m u n i t y . (Chi ca go , 19 71 ). Se e e s p e c i a l l y : p . 8 1 ff.

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R EC OM ME NDA TI ONS

k . 5 That the 'waiting p e r i o d 1 for u nemployment benefit be made p ayable from the day of the person's u ne mployment, or the day of regi str at ion with the Commonwealth Empl oy men t Service, w hi ch ev er is the later. (pp . 3 9 -i* 1 )

A . 6 That, as an interim measure while universal income m a in t e n a n c e schemes are being c o ns ide re d for implementation, u n e m p l o y ­ment benefits be raised above poverty line e st imates as a matter of urgency.

, ( p . k k )h .7 That u n em plo ym ent benefits be regularly

adju ste d to ensure that they remain above the poverty line, (pp-^^4 — 45)

k .8 That u ne mp lo y me nt b enefit be paid according to criteria of (previous and intended) work force p a rt ic ipation, rather than marital status. C p.47)

A . 9 That the Federal Gove rnment's recent d e c i ­sion to freeze the u ne mployment benefit level in regard to persons under eighteen years of age be reversed. (p . 4 7-)

^.10 That p ro vision be made for declaring a m o r a ­torium on the' hi re purchase commitments of u ne mployed persons and that the m o ra t o r i u m c on ti nu e to four weeks after the persons' return to work. ( p . 5 M

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CHAPTER 5

BLUDGERS OR VICTIMS?

One of the recurrent allegations in the debate about u n e m p l o ym e nt issues has been that many of the u n em plo ye d are not genuinely out of work, but v ol u nt a ri ly unemployed and choosing to live off u n e m p l o y m e n t benefit. The very e x i s ­tence of a n otion that the quarter of million unemployed persons are essentially bludgers seems startling. Apart from the depression years, A u st r a l i a has enjoyed a 'full' e m p l o y ­ment rate with only 1.0 and 1.5% of the labour force being out of work. Unless the motivation to work has d e m o n s tr a bl y altered in dramatic fashion over the past year or so, in turning something like k% of the work force into loafers all of a sudden, then allegations of w idespread bludging represent unfounded slurs on the v i c ­tims of the present economic crisis.

Statistical Facts and Fallacies

The first s erious charges of persons illegally receiving u n em p lo y me nt benefit were reported in the Press in May, 19 75 . ̂ Earlier a l l e g a ­tions had o c c u r re d but did not purport to be based on r el ia bl e survey data. The May a l l e ­gations were made on the basis of an unpublished survey c o nd uc te d by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and prompted a public reply from the C omm on we a lt h Statistician:

1 . The S u n , M a y 16, 1975, p.3

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"I am c on cerned at poss ible m i s i n t e r p r e t a ­tions that are likely to arise from p u b ­licity recently given in the media to a survey of persons registered as u n e m ­ployed, which was carried out by the Aust ra li an Bureau of Statistics in O c ­tober last year.

... No que sti on s were asked about u n e m ­ployment benefits and it is therefore quite impossible to obtain from the s u r ­vey results any information about p e r ­sons in receipt of such b enefits." 2

The survey c on cerned itself with unemployed p e r ­sons as distinct from u n em ployment beneficiaries.No j ud gments about abuse of benefit could, t h e r e ­fore, be made on the basis of the survey data.

In September, 1975, the Press again gave p r o m i n ­ence to figures that were prima facie indicative of large-scale m a l p r ac t ic e among unemployment b e n e f i c i a r i e s .3 This time the reports were based on an unpubli sh ed survey c onducted by officers of the Department of Social Security in August, 1975-

Following the check of 1 4,462 unemp 1 oyment benef i c i a- ries during August, 4,451 people were found to be ineligible for benefits. Of those found ineligible for u n em pl oy men t benefit, 1,710 had returned to work, 1,863 were not living at their recorded a d ­dress and 878 had their cheques cancelled for 'other reasons'. On the face of it, the extent of abuse of u n emp loy me nt benefits appears to be scandalous. However, upon closer analysis several factors emerge which help explain why so many people would be found to be no longer eligible for benefit.

2 . The A g e , M a y 27, 1975 , L e t t e r to the E d i t o r , p.B.

See, f o r e x a m p l e : T h e A u s t r a l i a n , S e p t e m b e r 23, 19 7 5 , p. 5; T h e A g e , S e p t e m b e r 23, 1975, p.l .

3 .

In any one month it is to be expected that a large number of the unemployed would return to the work force. Some unemployed persons will find seasonal or other temporary work; some will become re-instated as full-time workers and replaced by other persons becoming u n e m p 1o y e d .

In other words, the c omposition of the u n e m ­ployed is far from static from one month to the next. It is p re di ctable that when p e r ­sons become re-employed and notify the a u ­thorities to that effect that the information will often not filter through to the a p p r o ­priate personnel before the person's next cheque is issued. Even when the information is noted promptly cheques may still be d e s ­patched. This may occur due to a d m i n i s t r a ­tive oversights or as a result of the p r a c ­tice within the Department of Social Security to file information about unemployment b e n e ­fit recipients in the computer and to leave it there for a three to four week cycle.Until the relevant information filters along the line from counter clerk to computer o p e r a ­tor, the computer will automatically churn out cheques for the same people until the cycle is comp 1e t e .

With regard to the p roblem of incorrect a d d r e s ­ses, a large proportion of the unemployed (9% of the current survey sample) were living in very temporary a cc ommodation, e.g. hostels or boarding-houses. Another were in privatelyrented flats or houses. Thus, geographical m o ­bility will inevitably be high among the u n e m ­ployed and this is certain to produce a s i t u a ­tion in which delays in notification of new addresses will lead to cheques arriving at the incorrect address.

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Numerous u n em plo ye d persons in the current sample found that their cheques arrived at the wrong address even though they had n o t i ­fied the D e pa rtm en t of their new location.In cases w he r e the Department of Social S e ­curity is immediately notified of the p e r ­son's re-empl oy men t or change of address the information will not always be acted upon and cheques will be returned to the D e p a r t ­m e n t . 2* Other unemployed people will take themselves off u n em p lo y me nt benefit when they change address in a nt ici pa ti on of there being more jobs a va ilable in the local c o m ­munity to w hi c h they have moved.

Thus, there are a number of reasons why s i g ­nificant a d ju st me nts to Social Security re­cords woul d need to be made on a regular basis. Factors of geographical mobility, changes in empl oym en t status and a d m i n i s t r a ­tive d i f f i c u lt i es mean that, at any one time, the records will contain a large number of inaccuracies. Although a small amount of abuse is bound to occur there is absolutely no basis for assuming that necessary a d j u s t ­ments to the files are p ri ma ri ly due to a t ­tempts to stop fraud of the Department.

It is also pertinent to note that the survey conducted by the D ep artment of Social Security uses a biased sample. A n sw ering a question in the Senate about the survey results the M i n i s ­ter for Social Security, S enator Wheeldon, c o m ­mented that :

4. The A u s t r a l i a n , M a y 30, 1975 . R e p o r t o f the m a n w h o s e v e r a l t i m e s n o t i f i e d the D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y t h a t he w a s r e - e m p l o y e d b u t s t i l l r e c e i v e d a n o t h e r t h i r t y - s e v e n u n e m ­p l o y m e n t b e n e f i t c h e q u e s . p.l.

"It would not be correct to say that this figure represents a national average fi ­gure because the areas which were s e l e c ­ted were selected specifically because it was felt that g eo graphically they would be areas in which there could well be a conce nt rat io n of people who were, for want of a better term, ripping off the social s e c u r i t y . "5

The next day Senator Wheeldon protested about the way in whi ch sections of the Press distorted his statement about the extent of abuse revealed by the Department of Social Security survey and condemned the reporting as 'either gross incom­petence ... or a deli berate attempt to mislead the Aust ral ia n p e o p l e . '6

The critical test of the extent of 'welfare bludg- i n g ' lies in the number of times the 'work test' is applied and the number of prosecutions for dole-cheating. Of the beneficiaries who were surveyed by the Department of Social Security,878 had their benefit lapsed for 'other reasons'. All of those who are 'work-tested' for i ndica­ting an unwil li ngn es s to w ork are included in that figure; however, since the Department does not publish its findings it is impossible to d e ­tail the exact number of beneficiaries who were 'w o r k - t e s t e d '. If it is (unjustifiably) assumed that the whole 878 whose benefit was lapsed for 'other reasons' were, in fact, 'w o r k - t e s t e d 1 then 6.1% of those surveyed fall into the category of the work-shy.

5. H a n s a r d : S e n a t e , O c t o b e r 8 , 197 5, p p . 9 6 4 - 5 .

6 . H a n s a r d : Se n a t e , O c t o b e r 9, 197 5 , p. 10 43 .

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However, of those who appeal against being 1 w or k -t es t ed 1 , a p p r o x i m at e ly a half have their appeal upheld and are put back on unemployment b e n e f i t . 7 Thus, the perc en tage of b e n e f i c i a ­ries showing w o r k - sh y attitudes is demon st ra bl y e x tr em el y low.

With regard to illegal claims to unemployment benefit 'the Depa rt men t had launched thirty- eight p ro sec ut ion s against dole cheats t h r o u g h ­out A ust ral ia since July, 1.'® This figure represents 0.02% of all u n employment b e n e f i c i a ­ries in A u s t r a l i a . 9 As a proportion of those b e ne f ici ar ies who were recently surveyed by the Department of Social Secu rity the figure is still merely 0.26%.

If all surveys con duc te d by government d e p a r t ­ments were made publicly a va il a b l e then more precise inter pr eta ti ons of official statistics would be possi bl e and wri ters about u n e m p l o y ­ment wou ld not have the dubious prerogative of guessing at the extent of 'welfare bludging' and m ali gni ng the u n em plo ye d in the process. Several sensational h ea dlines and stories about the u nemployed have shown a readiness to doubt their ethics and their work motivation, but a reluctance to make res pon si ble and probing a n a l y s e s .

7. S e e C h a p t e r 7, p , 1 0 7 , o f this r e p o r t f o r d e ­t a i l s .

8. The A u s t r a l i a n , S e p t e m b e r 23, 1975 , p.5.

9. T h e p e r c e n t a g e is b a s e d on the n u m b e r o f u n e m ­p l o y m e n t b e n e f i c i a r i e s in A u s t r a l i a as at A u ­g u s t 31, 1975 , r e p o r t e d in M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a t i o n , D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r & I m m i g r a t i o n , A u g u s t , 1975. p.6.

The A n n u a l R e p o r t o f the A u s t r a l i a n D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y f o r 1 9 7 4 - 7 5 , p . 2 6 , s h o w s that 63 u n e m p l o y m e n t b e n e f i c i a r i e s w e r e c o n v i c t e d f o r i l l e g a l c l a i m s to b e n e f i t d u r i n g the c o u r s e o f the year.

lO.

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To further test the p roposition of w idespread bludging requires an analysis of the previous commitment to work that has been shown by the unemployed; their current motivation to become re-employed, and the f easibility of living on u ne mp loyment benefits as an alternative to in­dustry. Since Chapter k of this report has dealt in detail with the financial circumstances of the unemployed and shown the difficulty of even s ub si ste nc e living whilst on unemployment benefit the concentration, here, will be on questions of past work e xperience and other indexes of m ot ivation to work.

Past Work Experiences

Fifty-seven per cent of persons interviewed had never been unemployed before. In view of the fact that the average age was thirty years and that most people had left school at an early age, it is evident that a large percentage of the sample had been employed for about fourteen years wit hou t ever having been out of work d u r ­ing that time.

Only the small group of unemployed persons { 7- 5% of the total sample) who had been out of work twice or more in the preceding year are open to accusat io ns of a low commitment to work. Such an accusation would be glib, though. It would demand a rigid a dh erence to the work ethic and take no account of the frustrations of low pay, the frequent e xi stence of poor work conditions, or the degree to which people may lack control over their work process and feel a lack of c o m ­mitment to the purpose of the work activity it­self. The operation of these factors combine to d et ermine w orker satisfaction. Singularly, or in concert, the presence of these factors promotes restlessness and job mobility - or in e xtreme instances, opting out.

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As this survey and others note, job mobility tends to be somewhat higher among younger work force members, e sp ec i al ly in regard to those who are unskilled and poorly paid. Ordinarily, the commitment to the w or k ethic is deep-rooted. Only two of the unem plo ye d persons in the survey e xp ressed what could be loosely described as an ti -w ork attitudes. This is not to say that large numbers of people do not express negative attitudes to their own p a rticular job. But such a response is not a p a r t i c ul ar iz at io n of a g e ­neral di sli ke of w or k so much as a response to specific a l i en a ti ng factors operating in that job. Neither is it to suggest that unskilled jobs will a u t o m a t i c a l l y breed dissatisfaction.As one labourer remarked:

"I don't mind doing heavy work. S o m e ­one's got to do it. I'd rather work outdoors, anyway."

N ev ertheless, those who are s u s c ep ti bl e to u n e m ­ployment have t r ad i tio na lly worked in jobs that have low status and in which conditions of work are the least satisfying. In spite of survey persons' frequent comp lai nt s about specific work conditions their comm itm en t to work is manifestly high. Over half of the sample had never been u n ­employed previously. T h r e e -q ua rt er s had had a stable job record for at least the past year and t wo-thirds of the remaining group had been b e ­tween jobs on only one brief occasion during the past twelve months. 11

11. Hill , M.; H a r r i s o n , R; S a r g e a n t , A; andT a l b o t , V., M e n O u t o f W o r k , A s t u d y o f u n ­e m p l o y m e n t in t h r e e E n g l i s h towns. ( C a m b r i d g e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 7 5 ) , p p . 7 5 ff.

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Reasons for Leaving Previous Job

Charges of large-scale bludging rest on assumptions of voluntary unemployment. It should be abundantly clear that massive u ne mployment has been p r e d o m i n ­antly a product of the economic climate. Sixty- seven per cent of unemployed persons in the sample lost their jobs as a direct function of downturn in the economy that caused the threat of bankruptcy in the firms they worked for, or led to the intro­duction of policies that were invoked by employers to reduce industrial costs in an attempt to preserve profit margins.

Among the adult group in the sample, 75% fell into that category that could, in no way, be deemed v o ­luntarily unemployed. However, an assumption that the remaining group is characteri z ed by voluntarily unemployed people would be fallacious. Some people had resigned from their jobs due to illness and, having recovered, found that growing unemployment impeded their return to the work force. Women who had resigned their jobs due to pregnancy or a t e m ­porary family crisis (e.g. illness of one of the children) e nc o un t er ed similar difficulties in t ry ­ing to regain employment. Other people had moved to a new address and needed to change their job, accordingly. A small percentage of the total sample (6.9%) had been dismissed from their jobs. This sub-group was almost entirely comprised of young people who had been discontented in their jobs and had usually shown signs prior to their dismissal of wan tin g to move into an alternative job field. Carrying the stigma of a dismissal made it doubly difficult for them to acquire new work.

In the o ve rw helming m ajority of cases the u n e m ­ployed were passive victims of the broad economic climate. They did not choose unemployment and found themselves relatively powerless to control its impact and to return quickly to the work force.

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Instead, they were faced with few job o p p o r t u n i ­ties and an employers' market on which they had few skills to sell. In spite of the depressing effect that such a situation is bound to have on job seeking a ct iv i ti e s there are still clear indications of a strong m o ti vation to return to the ranks of the employed. It is apparent from talking with the unem pl oye d that it is not p r i ­marily the d i f f ic ul t y of existing on benefit that impels unem plo ye d people to active job seeking, but an internal m o tivation directed at regaining their d ignity and their right to work force particip ati on .

Job Ava i 1ab i 1 i ty

The core p roblem for the u nemployed is simply that there are not enough jobs. Yet, to state the p roblem in such terms is to over -s im pl if y it. Those job v ac ancies that do exist will not n e ce ss ari ly be clu ste re d in the same g e o g r a p h i ­cal areas as the unem plo ye d and the nature of job vacancies may not coincide with the e x p e r ­ience and skills of the unemployed. As the Minister for Labor and Immigration, Senator James M cClelland, has pointed out:

"There will always be some jobs available and some u n em p lo y me nt irrespective of the level of labour demand because the process of finding work and filling v a c a n ­cies takes some time. Moreover, the c h a r a c t er i st i cs of the unemployed and the q ua l if i ca t io n s required by employers may not match one another. Mini mu m levels of q u al i fi c a t i o n s are required in some trades and professions, and the people seeking w or k may not be s ufficiently skilled to obtain the a va il ab le positions.

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The c ha ra ct eri st ics of the job too may be such that it is very unattractive and therefore difficult to fill. Fi­nally the available jobs may be located in areas other than where the unemployed 1 i ve . "

In order to illustrate the mismatch between the total number and the type of job vacancies a v a i l ­able with aspects of the unemployed, relevant figures have been extracted for a period during which the survey was conducted. The figures il­lustrate the enormous shortfall in available jobs.

TABLE 13: UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY JOB VACANCIES.

Melbourne Met r o p o 1 i tan

Area 1

NationalF i gu res 2

U n e m p 1oyed Persons 55,^50 270,784

Un f i 1 led Vacanc i es 7,872 34,493

Ratio of unemployed persons to u n ­filled vacanc i es-3 7 : 1 8 : 1

1. Figures relate to the unemployed persons and job vacancies registered with Commonwealth Employment Service in the Melbourne M e t r o p o ­litan area as at 27th March, 1975-

2. S o u r c e : 'Monthly Review of the Labour S i t u a ­t i o n 1 , Department of Labor £ Immigration, March, 1975-

3. To the nearest whole number.

1 2 . H a n s a r d : S e n a t e , NO. 13, J u l y 9, 1975, p . 2 7 1 9 .

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At the time of w r it in g the gap between the number of u nemployed and the number of unfilled vacancies has w idened further. In September, 1975, for whicu the most recent figures are available, the ratio was more than 9:1. The differential is widestfor women and young p e o p l e . 13

In fact, the m is m at c h between available jobs and the unemployed is g reater than even the above figures suggest. In some areas, there are much higher ratios of unem plo ye d persons to job v a c a n ­cies. An additional c o mp lication is that there tends to be a negat iv e c o rr elation between the kind of jobs that the u nemployed have occupied in the past and the e m pl oyment positions that are a v ai l ab l e to them now. A comparison between the type of job vacancies on the C ommonwealth Em ­ployment S ervice books and the job classifi ca ti on of its r egistrants reveals only a slight mismatch; however, an analysis of the jobs advertised in The A g e n e ws p ap e r - the chief organ for i n fo rm a­tion on e mp lo y me n t positions in Victoria - shows a much larger discrepancy.

13. M o n t h l y R e v i e w o f the E m p l o y m e n t S i t u a t i o n , S e p t e m b e r , 19 75. p. 6

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TABLE 19: U NE MPLOYED PERSONS BY UNFILLEDVACANCIES ACCORDING TO O C C U P A ­TIONAL CATEGORY

Occupat i on

U n e m p 1oyedPersonsReg i s teredwith C ES a

°/'O

Unfilled Vacancies Notified to CESa

S

Unfilled Vacancies Advert i sed in n 'pape r c o 1u m n s 6 %

Rura i 0. A1 0. A6 0.11

Profess i o n a 1 or semi-professional 5.81 9-85 20.11

Clerical and admini strative 27-32 23.22 27-23

Skilled mining 0.01 1.99 1 .23

Skilled building and con struction 2.96 0.01 8.86

Skilled metal and electrical A . 81 12. AA 7.81

Other skilled 2.56 A. A3 1A.94 '

Sem i- s k i1 led 38.05 30.92 11.39

Un s k i1 led 10.27 5-70 1 . 05

Service occupation 7.80 10.98 7.27

a. Percentages are based on Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service figures for the Victorian M e t r o ­politan area as at 27th March, 1975-

b. Based on content analysis of employment section of The A g e dated Saturday, 10th May, 1975- Choice of that date occurred simply because it fell within the middle of the survey period. Coding of jobs is according to the criteria adopted by C om mo nwealth Employment Service.

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The C om mo nw e al th Empl oym en t Service is not n o t i ­fied of the m aj or it y of p rofessional and skilled jobs that become available, hence the fairly close a p pr o xi m a t i o n s of its figures on the o c c u ­pational groupings of its registrants to the n a ­ture of unfilled vacancies. Jobs advertised in w id el y circ ula te d daily n ewspapers provide a much more a cc ur at e a s se ssment of the range of job vacancies that c ur re n tl y exist in the c o m m u ­nity. Not only are there far great numbers of unemployed people than a v ai lable jobs: thosejob vacancies that do exist are frequently far removed from the e xp er i en c e and skills of the unemployed. Social, personal and financial f a c ­tors may impede the u nemployed in their attempts to regain their place in the work force; but the greatest bar rie r to r e-employment is o b ­viously the u n av a il a b i l i t y of jobs that are c o mp at ib le with the e xp er i en ce and q u a l i f i c a ­tions of the unemployed.

Source of Job Referrals

While it is so that a greater variety of jobs are a d ve rti se d in news pap ers than are brought to the notice of the C o mm onwealth Employment Service, and that this is an inducement to the u ne mployed to o rg a ni z e their own job hunt, it is also d e m o n s t r a t i v e of a fundamental and often e xp ressed p r e fe r en ce of the unemployed for self- help that most job seeking is undertaken on the basis of personal initiative as opposed to d e ­pende nc y on official agencies. C al cu lation of w he th e r the u ne mp loy ed , themselves, or the C om mo n we a lt h E m pl oym en t Service, on their b e ­half, made the gre ate r number of job referrals reveals the f ol lowing data:

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TABLE 20: SOURCE OF JOB REFERRALS

No. of s el f­referrals g reate r than n o . of CES r e f e r r a 1s

No. of CES referrals greater than no. of s e 1f-refe r r a 1s

No difference in n o . of referrals

6 A .20% 3 . 0 3 % 26.62%

The average number of s e 1f - r e f e r r a 1s was c o n s i ­derably in excess of the number of Commonwealth Employment Service referrals. While thirty- eight unemployed persons made ten or more s e l f ­referrals only three persons had been referred to six or more jobs by the C ommonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service.

Only one person in the survey sample had been referred to a job by a private e mployment agency. Three other persons had approached private a g e n ­cies during their search for a job but found that the agencies had nothing to offer them. Apart from the group of private e mployment agencies that specialize in handling domestic work, most of the remainder deal exclusively with p r o f e s ­sional, clerical and a dminis tr at iv e jobs and are of little help, therefore, to the m ajority of the u n e m p 1o y e d .

Method of Job Seeking

The main methods of seeking work were through the scanning of the e m ployment sections of n e w s ­papers and wal kin g from factory to factory in order to inquire about possible job vacancies.

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At te nd in g the C o mm onw ea lth Employment Service o ffices s pe ci fi c al ly to ask about employment positions was the next most common method of job seeking. About one -th ir d of the sample were referred to at least one job as a result of their contact with the Common we al th E m p l o y ­ment Service.

Two c on cl usi on s e merge from the manner in which jobs are sought out. Firstly, there is a p r e ­d is po si ti on to s e l f -r el i an ce as reflected by the unemployed freq uen tl y dela ying registration with the C o mm on wea lt h E mployment Service and then using personal initiative to seek work more than d e p e n ­ding on the C o mm onw ea lth Employment Service to come up with a job. In fact, a large section of the u nemployed do not register with the C o m m o n ­wealth E mployment Service at a 1 1 . ̂ ** Secondly, the search for work is c om m on ly inefficient as indicated by the tendency of the unemployed to make casual inquiries for w ork at numerous f a c ­tories that will not n e c e s sa ri ly have any vacan-• 15c i es .

14. T h i s is b o r n e o u t by the t r a d i t i o n a l l y h i g h e r f i g u r e s f o r u n e m p l o y e d p e r s o n s , r e c o r d e d by the A u s t r a l i a n B u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s , u s i n g a p o p u l a t i o n s a m p l e , c o m p a r e d w i t h the C o m m o n ­w e a l t h E m p l o y m e n t S e r v i c e f i g u r e s f o r the n u m b e r o f p e o p l e w h o a c t u a l l y r e g i s t e r f o r e m p l o y m e n t .

15. R u r a l P o v e r t y in N o r t h e r n N e w S o u t h W a l e s , a s u r v e y p r e p a r e d by D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i o l o g y , U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w E n g l a n d , f o r A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t o P o ­v e r t y , C a n b e r r a , 1 9 74 , a l s o r e p o r t s a h i g h i n c i d e n c e o f u n e m p l o y e d p e o p l e g o i n g to a s k e m p l o y e r s i f t h e r e a r e a n y j o b v a c a n c i e s .S e e p .102.

The u ne mployed are hampered in their job seeking by financial constraints and by their frequent forced reliance on public transport. Seventy- seven per cent of the unemployed adults in the survey did not have their own t r a n s p o r t . 1®As well as proving a severe limitation to job seeking it also reduced actual job o p p o r t u n i ­ties since, with private transport, it would have been possible to reach jobs in locations that were not serviced by public transport.

Results of Job A p pl ica tions

It was a debilitating expe ri en ce for the u n e m ­ployed that applications for jobs seemed p e r p e ­tually to end in a rebuff. People who traipsed from one factory to the next invariably found that there were no job vacancies. As one n i n e ­teen year old said:

"It's terrible being unemployed. It gets you down. You can't go anywhere or spend anything. I couldn't manage if I wasn't at home. But it's hard being dependent on your parents. I've walked everywhere to get a job. E ventually you stop l ook­ing because you realize there aren't any jobs."

Employers often indicated that applicants did not possess the skill requirements and on other occasions the unemployed, themselves, feared that they would fail to display the degree of skill expected of them and consequently did not push themselves forward.

16. T h i s f i g u r e r e p r e s e n t s a p p r o x i m a t e l y 0.2 m o t o r v e h i c l e s p e r s u r v e y p e r s o n . Wh en S t a t e p o p u l a t i o n s t a t i s t i c s for the c o m ­p a r a b l e a g e g r o u p are r e l a t e d to V i c t o r i a n M o t o r R e g i s t r a t i o n B r a n c h s t a t i s t i c s on v e ­h i c l e r e g i s t r a t i o n s a f i g u r e of a p p r o x i ­m a t e l y 0.8 m o t o r v e h i c l e s p e r p e r s o n 18 y e ar s a n d o v e r is i n d i c a t e d .

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Lack of c o n f id en c e among the unemployed, e s ­pecially among young persons, represents a significant problem. People often seemed to have a ppr o ac he d job interviews with great (en- tativeness and to have u nd e re st im at ed their ability. Young people, in particular, s o m e ­times had no idea of how to approach a job interview and were petrified by the prospect.

The most common out com e of job applications was a d i s c o v e r y that the position had already been filled. This was the case in a p p r o x i ­mately a quarter of all applications. As well as indicating how jobs tend to be snapped up in the current situation it also evidences one of the recurrent frus tr ati on s to which the u n e m ­ployed are subjected. U nemployed persons who were referred to jobs by the Commonwealth E m ­ployment Service found that the job was a l ­ready taken even more freq uently than when they made s e 1f - r e f e r r a 1s to other positions, in small part the p r ob le m was that employers did not always inform the Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment S ervice that a job had been filled and staff did not always make a pp ro priate checks on this prior to referring a registrant to the job. However, the pro ble m stems primarily from the prac ti ce among the C o mm onwealth Employment Service staff of referring several registrants to the one job. As a c on s eq ue nc e of this, it is the de sti ny of large numbers of Commonwealth E mployment Service registrants to arrive for a job interview only to be informed that the post has al re ad y been filled.

Feelings of d is p ir i te dn e ss sometimes reduced job seeking. As a twen ty- six year old c o m m e n ­ted :

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"The most important thing is the mental im­pact. Hopes and ambitions get dashed by the consistent knock-backs for jobs and the difficulty of getting by financially. You have bursts of enthusiasm, but it gets lost and you end up feeling d e ­pressed and trapped in your situation."

N o tw i th st an din g the range of impediments to re­turning to the work force the search for jobs was typically vigorous and sustained. S t a t e ­ments testifying to a thorough dislike of being idle and dependent on 'government m o n e y 1 were frequently volunteered.

Take-up of U ne mployment Benefit

It has been pointed out earlier that over a quar ter of the unemployed persons in the survey did not register for unemployment benefit upon becom ing jobless. The dis crepancy between the actual time of unemployment and registration for b e n e ­fit was usually four weeks or more.

People were asked if they had even been u n e m ­ployed before and had not made a claim for un ­e mployment benefit in spite of being eligible for it. Sixty-six per cent of those persons in the survey with experience of previous u n em ­ployment reported that they had not always claimed their benefit entitlements. On o c c a ­sions, the elapsed period between the onset of unemployment and the time of registering for benefit amounted to months rather than weeks.It should be noted that since the survey sample consisted mainly of Commonwealth Employment S er ­vice registrants that its results concerning the extent to which eligible persons do not take up their entitlement to benefit are, in fact, underestimates.

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Using different sampling techniques, an inquiry into rural p o v e r t y ^ found that only k% of res­pondents registered for unem ployment benefit each time they w e r e out of work; 78.5% never registered. N o n - r e g i s tr at i on appears to be e x pr es siv e .of a p r ef ere nc e for independent job seeking and a reaction to the stigma of being o n 1 the d o l e 1 . Several people (mainly migrants and j uveniles) had not been aware of their right to u ne mp lo y me nt benefit.

Recent increases in publicity about u n e m p l o y ­ment (and benefit e nt itlements) have virtually eliminated the pro ble m of people being unaware of the e x is t en c e of unem plo yment benefit. H o w ­ever, because pub lic it y has so frequently been adverse and slurred the unemployed it has f un c ­tioned to deter many of them from claiming their right to benefit. Since the unemployed usually have only very meagre financial re­sources they tend to be soon forced onto u n e m ­ployment benefit regardless of the social stigma or their own aver sio n to financial dependence. Those r eg is tration delays that do occur in o r ­der to avoid s t ig m at i z a t i o n commonly cause a good deal of financial hardship. Some people d et ermine not to register until their own savings have expired. Upon registering they then discover that they are not entitled to a payment for the first seven days of their re­gistration and are immediately plunged into debt through enfo rce d borrowing.

Discussions of u n em p lo y me nt have often focused on the inroads that d o le - cheats have made into the ranks of the unemployed: however, as a re­sult of the general smears that have been cast on the unemployed, the much more consid er ab le problem wou ld appear to be that numerous u n e m ­ployed people are deterred from claiming their right to benefit.

17. R u r a l P o v e r t y in N o r t h e r n N e w S o u t h op. c i t . , p .100.

W a l e s

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General Observations

It is apparent from a considered analysis of the past work experi en ce s of the unemployed and their current job seeking activities that their c o m m i t ­ment to work is strong. They did not choose to become unemployed nor do they choose to remain out of work. The desire to return to work is strong throughout the sample. So, too, is the wish to be f inancially independent and to be able to organize one's own search for work e f f e c ­tively in order to maximize the chance of an early return to the work force. It should be clear enough from the current dearth of job vacancies that an early return to work is not possible for the majority of the unemployed.

Earlier d is cu ss i on ^® has shown that the averag.e duration of u n em plo ym ent is upwards of ten weeks and that the length of survey persons' u n e m p l o y ­ment was not influenced by their e li gi bility for benefit. That is, unemployed people who were in receipt of benefit were not unemployed for longer periods than those who were ineligible for b e n e ­fit. This lends extra weight to the proposition that unemployed persons are in no way content to remain unemployed so long as their entitlement to benefit lasts. A l th ough diverse factors hamper people in their efforts to get back into the work force, the greatest barrier is the sheer insuf­ficiency of job opportunities.

Yet, instead of the response to the unemployed being c ha racterized by rationality and u n d e r s t a n ­ding, their plight has been largely obscured by ill-founded allega ti on s of bludging. It appears r epr ehensible to distort imposed unemployment into voluntary idleness.

18. S e e C h a p t e r 3, p.26.

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A l t h o ug h it is evident from the survey that a small n um b er of people have pro cr as ti na te d over their return to work, it is unequivocal that their numb er among the unemployed is i n f i n i t e s i ­mal. It is also erroneous to suppose that the a bsence of a flurry to find fresh emplo ym en t is a m a n i f e s t a t i o n of a low c ommitment to work. U n em pl oye d people were anxious not to repeat the e x p e r i e n c e of being out of work. This often led to them investigating training o p p o r t u n i ­ties in ord er to move into more secure e m p l o y ­ment in the future. The same desire for secure e mp lo y me n t (that would be satisfying, as well) prompted othe r unemployed persons to make a cautious a s s e ss me n t of a l te rnative job careers. Since a ff l u e n t people with assets of their own can do this anyway it seems entirely fair to al lo w those w ithout financial resources a s i m i ­lar o p p o r t u n i t y by c ontinuing to pay them u n e m ­ployment benefit whiie an active o v e r vi ew of training and career o p po r tunities is u n d e r ­taken. Most u ne mployed people, however, cannot afford to take time to reflect upon their job future because, in being so hard put to subsist on u n e m p l o ym e nt benefit, they are forced to snap up any a va i la bl e job, regardless of its impl ic a­tions for future security and satisfaction. fhe survey shows that upwards of a third of unemployed persons had been seeking work tnat was in c o n ­flict w it h their actual job choice. When an attempt is made to seek out work that wili avoid future job d i ss a t i s f a c t i o n and job insecurity then the time that is taken in such e nd eavour should be seen in its proper perspective. Rather than being an i ll us tration of idleness it is an effort to escape the hard ship and indignity of p r o s p ec ti v e unem pl oym en t by finding a stable and rewarding place in the w or k force.

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It is an indictment of public attitudes (and those sections of the media that have helped to shape them) that the debate about unemployment has e s s e n ­tially been reduced to scapegoating the victims of the economic climate and dismissing them as blud- gers. The p revalence of such attitudes has been g enerative of apathy and of ignorance of the d i f ­ficulties of the unemployed. It is most r eg r e t ­table that more pressure seems to have been m o u n ­ted to conduct w i tc h -hu nts against bludgers than to appr ec ia te the dilemmas of the unemployed and to find ways of a ll ev iating their problems during their attempts to become reinstated as workers.

R EC OMM END AT ION S

5.11 That all surveys conducted by governmentdepartments be made readily, and publicly, available, (pp.60-66)

5.12 That reports about the unemployed attemptto take account of the complexity of factors o pe rating and seek to a p p r e ­ciate the perspective of the u n e m ­ployed. (pp.60- 66)

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C HAPTER 6

JOB TRAI N I NG

It is wide ly recognized that vast technological and structural changes which continue to occur within industry will mean that large numbers of w orkers will need to undergo retraining in order to keep abreast of these changes. In­creasing demands w it hi n industrial countries for skilled and professional workers emphasises the need for c o m p r e h e ns i ve facilities for t r a i n ­ing and retraining as integral parts of manpower p o 1 i c i e s .

A s ignificant p er ce n ta ge of the unemployed people w ho were interviewed d uring the survey were still awaiting their initial job training o p p o r ­tunity. Many had left school early and had since been trapped in jobs that offered them little or no chance to realize their potential. Because of their poor e co n om i c position only paid t r a i n ­ing could be c on te mp lat ed , thus Further limiting those training o p p o r t u n it i es that may o th er wi se be a v ai l ab l e to them.

National E mp loyment and Training Scheme

The introduction of the National Employment and Trai ni ng scheme supe rs ede s the individual t r a i n ­ing schemes that o p er ate d in the p a s t 1 and

1. P r i o r to the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f N E A T s e p a r a t e t r a i n i n g s c h e m e s o p e r a t e d fo r w i d o w p e n ­s i o n e r s , w o m e n w h o s e e m p l o y m e n t o p p o r t u n i ­t i e s ha d b e e n r e s t r i c t e d by d o m e s t i c r e s p o n ­s i b i l i t i e s , a b o r i g i n a l s a n d p e r s o n s d i s p l a c e d b y ' t e c h n o l o g i c a l c h a n g e ' .

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heralds a fresh initiative by the Australian G overnment in the broad area of job training with remuneration for the duration of the train-

The NEAT scheme, as it has become known, grew out of certain r ecommendations of the Cochrane C o m m i t t e e . 3 The Committee proposed that 'early action be taken to e st ablish a comprehensive Aust ra li an labour market training s c h e m e 1 with the objects being to:

1 (a) A ll eviate u ne mployment whenever it may occur and contribute to o v e r ­coming skills in short supply.

(b) Assist in the long-term r es tr u c t u r ­ing of the work force and bring about overall increases in the generalI eve 1 of skill.

(c) Serve the social as well as the e c o n o ­mic needs of the community and of in­dividuals by means of special a s s i s ­tance, guidance, remedial training and other measures designed to aid the re­moval of inequalities and enhance e m ­ployment opportunities.'

2. The a l l o w a n c e s f o r p e r s o n s on the N E A T s c h e m e are r e v i e w e d (t hough no t n e c e s ­s a r i l y i n c r e a s e d ) q u a r t e r l y . As at S e p t e m b e r , 1975, a d u l t s (and p e r s o n s u n d e r 21 y e a r s o f ag e w i t h d e p e n d e n t s ) in f u l l - t i m e t r a i n i n g r e c e i v e d $ 9 6 . 8 0 (gross) we ekly.

3. A u s t r a l i a n D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o u r , A u s t r a l i a n L a b o u r M a r k e t T r a i n i n g , R e p o r t o f the C o m ­m i t t e e o f I n q u i r y i n t o L a b o u r M a r k e t T r a i n ­ing, (Canbe rr a, Ma y, 1974).

Furthermore, 'the training arran ge me nt s be flexible enough to c o mp reh en d the full range of occupational skills from the provision of simple skills, to p os t- t er t ia r y training and education required to assist with entry to such courses. 1,1

The broad o bj ec t iv es stated by the Committee, c o u ­pled with its recomm en da tions of flexible training a rr angements, are of fundamental importance to the majority of the unemployed. As has been noted by Jan Salmon, in the wide r context of low-income f a m i l i e s , 5 the core p roblem is training, not re ­training. Most of the unemployed had received only a very basic e du cation and had not acquired occupational skills that could be readily t r a n s ­ferred across jobs. For many, a p re paratory course to d evelop facility in spoken and written English, for example, would be a necessary p r e ­requisite to an occu pa tio na l training course.Since most of the unemployed have had no formal training, a short course extending over three months or so will not usually be of much use to them. It is of p ar amount importance that if equal o ppo r tu ni t ie s for training are to exist for work force members that training a r r a n g e ­ments main tai n the f l ex i bility advocated by the Cochrane Committee. Unfortunately, the unpre- dictably high demand for training as a result of the sharp rise in unem ployment has meant that increasingly restri ct iv e conditions have been applied to the NEAT scheme.

4. I b i d , p . v i i .

5. S a l m o n , J. R e s o u r c e s f o r P o o r F a m i l i e s : AnE x p e r i m e n t a l ■I n c o m e S u p p l e m e n t S c h e m e , p r e ­p a r e d f o r the A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s ­s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t o P o v e r t y , (C an b e r r a , 1974) P-77.

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Announcing its introduction in July, 197^,Mr Cameron, then Minister for Labor and Im­migration, gave warning that priorities would be e stablished in line with giving p r e f e r ­ence for retraining to persons who had been retrenched as a result of lowered tariff b a r ­rier s.6 Jn the latter days of 1 9 7 A, it seems that officers admini st ering the NEAT scheme were able to exercise consid er ab le discretion in d et er min in g eligibility. However, with the unex pe ct edl y large growth in unemployment and the concom it an t increase in demand for t ra i n ­ing, e li g ib i li ty for the NEAT scheme has come to be more narrowly defined. Since the d i s c r e ­tion for d etermining e li gi bility for the scheme lies primarily with local employment officers d iff ering criteria have evolved between offices. In general, it would appear, both from the c o m ­ments' of the unemployed and Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service officers, that eligibility criteria operate in favour of:

(a) P hysically and mentally handicapped persons, or persons with an apparent social handicap (e.g. unable to speak English),

(b) Unemployed persons who are b r e a d ­winners, and

^c) u nemployed persons applying for a course under one year.

6. C a m e r o n , C. (then M i n i s t e r f o r L a b o r a n d I m m i g r a t i o n ) : P r e s s r e l e a s e h e a d e d :The S i g n i f i c a n c e o f N E A T , J u l y 8, 1974.

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ln all cases, the person's employment goal must be in line with labour market demands. However, in the a b s en c e of a c om pr ehensive manpower policy e mb od yi ng p l an n i n g for the d ec en t r a l i z a t i o n of industry, relo cat io n assistance, job creation programs, a d e q u a t e career information and v o c a ­tional g u i d a nc e - judgments about the match between a p er so n' s employment goals and the needs of the labour market will inevitably rest on shaky g r o u n d .

It was e n v i s a g e d by the Cochrane Committee that e l ig i b i l i t y crit eri a be e x ce edingly broad and that ‘there be no constraints in regard to the age of trai ne es or to the length of the t r a i n ­ing p e r i o d . '7 The current restrictive c o n d i ­tions on e nt r y have not arisen so much from a formal d i r e c t i v e as from informal, unwritten d i re ct iv es and the applied disc re ti on of local e m p lo y me nt o ff i ce r s in the light of an u n p r e ­cedented d e ma n d for training.

Certainly, there can be no argument with the d e ­cision to give preference for training to p h y s i ­cally and m e n t a l l y handicapped persons. Every h a nd ic app ed person encountered during the survey reported v i r t u a l l y insurmountable d i f fi cu lt y in getting back into the work force. Urgent c o n ­side ra ti on should be given to adopting, in A u s ­tralia, a s cheme similar to that o pe ra ti ng in the United Kingdom. Employers, there, of twenty or more w o r k e rs , have a statutory requirement placed upon them to comprise 3% of their staff with d is a bl e d persons, unless d is pe ns at io n is granted by the Department of E m p l o y m e n t . s

7. A u s t r a l i a n L a b o u r M a r k e t T r a i n i n g , op. cit., p . v i i i .

8. C e n t r a l O f f i c e o f I n f o r m a t i o n , R e h a b i l i t a t i o n a nd C a r e o f the D i s a b l e d in B r i t a i n , (London, 1969), p p . 18-19.

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At present, a pp ro x im a te ly 8% of persons on the NEAT scheme in A us tralia have some form of p h y s i ­cal or mental handicap. A pp ro ximately ofthe total number of persons on NEAT are migrants, usually with language difficulties that c o n s t i t u ­ted a social and e mployment handicap to t he m . 9 The problem for both these groups in finding suitable job outlets without the availability of training o pp or tun it ies is considerable.

In marginally different degrees the problem of finding suitable job openings exists for all persons who currently find themselves out of work. Prompted, typically, by a sense of job insecurity combined with a wish to find more engaging work in the future, three-quarters of all people interviewed expressed an interest in job training. Uver half of the people expressing such an interest were able to define the sort of training that they wanted to pursue. However, several people seemed to lack the confidence that would enable them to undertake training and many people in the survey did not have s u f ­ficient information about al te rn at iv e job careers and training o pp or tun it ies as a basis tor forming a considered decision. The problem for unemployed people of not having sufficient information a v a i l ­able to them seriously hampers their ability to press their claims for job training. In fact,60% of persons in the survey sample had not even heard of the NEAT scheme. A mere 1% had been in­formed of its e xi stence through their contacts with the C om monwealth Employment Service. Not only, then, is there discretion exercised in terms of who shall be deemed eligible for training; d iscretion is also exercised over who shall be told of the operation of a training scheme.

9. T h e s e f i g u r e s a r e u n p u b l i s h e d d a t a s u p p l i e d by the D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r a n d I m m i g r a t i o n .

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Some people in the survey sample reported that they had been quickly fobbed off when they in­quired about job training. Because they did not have the means to assess their eligibility they could not press their case. It did not fall within the compass of the survey to gather p recise details on the educational and o c c u p a ­tional b ac kground of persons who were actually accepted for NEAT. However, it is apparent from the survey results that most of the u n e m ­ployed (who are typically in receipt of a ru­di me nt ary e du ca tio n and rearely possess t r a n s ­ferable job skills) do not have access to training courses in spite of their expressed desire for job training. The opinion formed by survey interviewers was that persons who a lready had educational q u a 1 ifactions to the later secondary years and recognized job skills seemed to stand a better chance of being s e l e c ­ted for a training course than someone who had left school early and worked in an unskilled or s em i- skilled job. Indeed, only about one in ten persons on the NEAT scheme were receiving on-the- job training in f a c t o r i e s . 10 'Most are doing either f ul l-time or p a rt -t ime business and c o m m e r ­cial studies or other tertiary training'll which would usually call for educational prerequisites that the m aj o ri t y of the unemployed do not possess. A cc or dingly, there is an unequivocal need to b r o a ­den training o p p o r t u n it i es in the future through schemes like NEAT and through the a va il ab il it y of adult a p pr e nt i ce sh i ps for other work force m embers w anting to a cquire a job skill. In a d d i ­tion to the need for retraining of those people affected by structural u n em ployment there are vast numbers of work force mem bers whose degree of self- actualiz at ion , s a ti sfa ct ion and produc ti vi ty would be greatly enhanced by an app ro pr ia te training oppor- tun i t y .

10. T h e H e r a l d , J a n u a r y 14, 1975 , p . 3

11 . I b i d .

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M i g r a n t s

speaking migrants tion. Along with

Non-Engl 1s h vidious pos literacy sk who Ie range of ment and their ligible. Consequently, pawns in the industrial chance to control their tablishment of language would be s ignificant in that o t he rw is e operate

a most in- ians lacking access to a

are in Au s t ra

11s they are deprived ofw ritten information about employ- prospects of promotion are neg-

they are bound to be process having little job destinies. The es- classes in factories redressing the imbalances

against non-English s p e a k ­ing migrants and illiterate and s e m i - 1 iterate Australians. To a small extent, this imbalance is being rectified by the NEAT scheme. The M i ­grant Education Branch of the Victorian D e p a r t ­ment of Education also reports that language classes catering for 1 1A migrants were operating in nine different locations at the end of July, 1975. T h ec las se s run for six hours per week over a six week period. Teachers (and teaching m a ­terial) are provided out of public funds. E m ­ployees are usually given paid time out of their w orking day to attend the classes. In other cases, classes occur one hour either side of the end of the wor kin g day and overtime may be paid.

However, many of the d isadvantages that face migrant w orkers still persist to the degree found by a 1971 survey of the problem.

"Of the k S ] firms surveyed, only 7% p r o ­vided English language classes and 2% or less provided one of the following:

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mu 1t i- 1 ingua 1 w el fa r e counsellors, planning of social club a c ti vities to include n a ­tional groups, or any a ss is t a n c e with p lacing children of e mp loyees in creches. Three per cent of firms used special aids to train non-En gl is h speaking employees in safety ..."12

Young Peop i e

The inadequacy of career information to school- l e a v e r s ^ renders the shift from school to work as desultory. Initial job choice is based largely on c hance elements and the common d i s c o n t i n u a n c e of training upon e n te rin g the work force makes it di ffi cu lt to change job direction later.

In a study of what happened to thirty-four children who had atte nde d an inner urban Melbo ur ne school!** the authors comment that:

" Vocational guid anc e appeared to be a hit and miss affair in the school and rarely came early enough to assist the students with their choice. Thus, many took c o u r ­ses or subjects whi ch made it impossible for them to ach iev e their a s p i r a t i o n s ."1b

12. A u s t r a l i a n D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o u r a n d I m m i g r a ­tion, W o r k a n d P e o p l e , W i n t e r , ]975, Vol. 1, N o . 2, p . 33.

13. S u r v e y o f Y o u n g W o r k e r s , op. ci t . , p p . 6 - 7 .

14. T i n n e y , M.f Benn , C. a n d O ' N e i l l , J. The L uck o f the G a m e , a S t u d y o f I n n e r S u b u r b a n S c h o o l - L e a v e r s , B r o t h e r h o o d o f St L a u r e n c e , D e c e m b e r , 1974.

15. I b i d , p .83.

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Similarly, a survey of young workers by the A u s ­tralian Council of Trade Unions'^ remarked that:

"Among children leaving school to enter the work force a significant number a p ­pear to have received very little career guidance and some none at a l l . "17

The problem was part icularly acute for females.

The current survey results confirm that many young people simply drift from school to work with little idea of what job options are open to them. As a product of this drift and the unsatisfying nature of some work, frustration and job mobility are r i f e .

There is a clear need for early and continual career information and vocational guidance in conjunction with the planning of each person's school subjects. The degree of vocational guidance that is provided to s c h o o 1 - c h i 1dren is patently inadequate. In the absence of c om pr ehe ns ive career information (inclu­ding details of manp ower projections) and vocational guidance the transition from school to work is u n ­easy and the process of adjustment to work will be inevitably h a z a r d o u s . 18

The insufficiency of later training opportunities and the d ifficulty of re-entering school present enormous barriers to people wanting to further their education or to acquire job skills. To w h a t ­ever extent young people remain at school due to the unemployment crisis, or join the armed forces solely because other job vacancies do not exist, are the overall unemployment figures diminished.

16. S u r v e y o f Y o u n g W o r k e r s , op. cit.

17. Ibid, p .7.

18. I b i d , p p .6-7.

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A handful of young people in the survey, who saw no hope of g etting into the work force in the near future and opted to return to full-time education, found themselves dissuaded from doing so by the school authorities. Others who could not obtain the a p p r e n t ic e sh ip s that they wanted sought entry into the armed forces. Accordingly, 'indications of a recruitin.g boom' were reported^? by early 1975. Meanwhile, as an inducement to employers to traiji apprentices, the Federal G o v e r n ­ment announced an increased subsidy to employers providing a p p r e n t i c e s h i p s . 20 Nevertheless, 1500 fewer a pp r ent ice s were taken on by V ic torian in­dustry in 1975 compared with the previous y e a r . 2 ^As the V ic torian Chamber of M a n uf ac tu re rs has pointed out, unless this trend is reversed i n d u s t y will be c o n fr o nt ed with a desperate shortage of skilled e m p l o y e e s . 22

The p roblem for most of the u nemployed persons is that training was d i sc ont inued at the school-gate and, as a c on se quence, it was consi de ra bl y d i f f i ­cult to a cquire skills and information as a basis for altering one's job direction later. The sharp break between school and work is neither desirable nor necessa r y .

The Education (Work Experience) Bill that was intro­duced in the V i ct o ri a n Parliament in late 197^ is a we lc om e step towards easing the transition from school to work. Under the Bill a rrangements may be made between school prin cipals and (local) employers for students in their later school years to obtain work e xpe r ie nc e for not more than twelve days per school term as part of their education.

19. The S u n , J a n u a r y 15, 1975 , p .15.

20. The Su n , J a n u a r y 8, 1975, p .7.

21 . The Su n , O c t o b e r 20. 19 7 5 , p .18 .

22. I b i d

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There would seem to be considerable merit, also, in the implementation of a scheme wher eb y young people who had left school at an early age could continue in e du cation by spending (say) one w o r k ­ing day each week developing practical knowledge for example, about the taxation system, social security, socio-legal matters - and gaining job skills through whic h they could broaden their understanding and their prospects of working productively in their chosen f i e l d . 23 As the A ustralian Council of Trade Unions' report notes, such vocational training schemes could, in particular, 'assist children of lower income families now excluded from appren ti ce sh ip s and other forms of vocational training because economic c ir cumstances forced them out of school at an early a g e ' . 24 The pity is that educational and work experi en ce s are generally seen as such distinct categories that the educational process is often not informative about working life and once the person has entered the work force the door to future educational opportunities may be shut tight.

The following remarks by young unemployed persons illustrate their difficulty in continuing with a formal education that would eventually lead to a more skilled job. The barrier may be simply e con om i c :

23. V a r i o u s s c h e m e s o f this n a t u r e o p e r a t e in c e r t a i n E u r o p e a n i n d u s t r i e s , e.g. B e k a e r t I n d u s t r i e s , D A F C a r C o m p a n y , in B e l g i u m a n d the N e t h e r l a n d s , r e s p e c t i v e l y , u n de r the t i t l e o f S c h o o l for L i v i n g .

24. S u r v e y o f Y o u n g W o r k e r s , op. cit., p.13.

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"I'd like to go back to school but everyone in the family is unemployed at the moment and I'll have to work to help out with money. We're not e xactly rich."

111 thought of going on with school, but you have to pay at night school."

In a report on u n em p lo y me nt among young people the European C om mi s si o n observed that 'the a u ­thorities put fewer resources at the disposal of those who have to become part of work in g life quickly than of those who benefit from further or higher e d u c a t i o n ' . ^

The current survey results dem on st ra te the outcome of young people d r if tin g from school to w or k w i t h ­out adequate c ar ee r information and then, only very rarely, being availed of a vocational t r a i n ­ing opportunity.

In spite of see min gl y low levels of s el f-confidence, 80% of young p eople stated that they would like an opport un it y for job training. Yet, a quarter of that group did not have information that would make possible a c o ns ide re d decision about traininci and 60% of all young people (and adults) had not heard anything of the National Employment and Train- i ng s c h e m e .

With the f or th com in g influx of sc ho ol -l ea ve rs onto the job market it is essential that job creation programs, such as the Regional Employment D e v e l o p ­ment scheme, be revived and expanded.

25. B y w a t e r , M., L e a v i n g T h e i r S c h o o l s - F o r W h a t ? E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t y , No. 10, O c t o b e r , 1973 , p . 15.

It would also be important to evaluate such p r o ­grams so as to show which workers are employed under the scheme, the nature of the work projects, their usefulness to the unemployed and to the local community, the duration of jobs undertaken and their area of operation. Although job c r e a ­tion programs would not necessarily be compatible with persons' training needs and aspirations they would help to combat the aimlessness felt among the unemployed and are likely to assist young people, especially school-leavers, in developing a pattern of work and in sorting out their job and training preferences.

Due to the scarcity of work and training opportuni ties most people were forced to seek jobs that were distinct from their job preference. Two- thirds of young people making s e 1f - r e f e r r a 1s p u r ­sued jobs that were not consonant with their a s ­pirations. In the case of young people who were referred to jobs by the Commonwealth Employment Service only 6.7% of referrals were in line with the person's actual choice of job. The implica­tions for job satisfaction, self-fulfilment, job stability and p ro ductivity are striking.

D iss atisfaction with the nature and conditions of work was frequently expressed. In some instances the degree of frustration engendered by an u n f u l ­filling and confining work situation carried far- reaching consequences:

"There's no s at is faction working in the foundry so you end up getting drunk and you want to take it out on someone just to let off all the anger."

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Over half of the young people had changed jobs once or more in the past year and gave little indication that they were about to develop a settled w or k pattern. Work patterns are g e ­nerally more stable among adults, but lack of information and lack of training oppo rt un it ie s are evident across the w ho l e sample.

j. j. j. .u j. j . j.

In the absence of job skills the person's search for re-emp lo ym ent is certain to be confined. Lack of training reduces job o p p or tu ni ti es and lack of c on fi d en c e may further inhibit the job search.As Sheppard and Belitsky have observed:

"Poor pay or poor w o r ki ng conditions a p ­parently do not prevent s t i 11 - u n e m p 1oyed w orkers from a p pl yin g for jobs at certain companies so much as the feeling - whether based on fact or fancy - that they simply don't have the r eq ui rements for the jobs a v a i l a b l e . . . " 2 6

The extent of needs for retraining tend to be h i g h ­lighted by structural unem ployment in that workers who are suddenly d i sp la ce d from formerly stable jobs tend to be more c on sp icuous than the much greater number of wor ker s who have never received job training and whos e job aspirations have g r a ­dually been transf or me d into job frustrations by the nature of their work and the una va il ab il it y of later training o p po rt unities. If earlier im­balances are to be redressed and workers are to stand a chance of realizing their potential and of making their own skilful c on tr ibutions to the e conomy then it is of crucial importance that c o m ­p r eh en si ve training programs be e st ab lished as an integral part of m an p ow e r policies.

26. S h e p p a r d , H. a n d B e l i t s k y , A., The J o b H u n t J o h n H o p k i n s P r e s s ( M a r y l a n d , 1 9 6 6 ) , p . 85 .

R EC OM ME NDA TI ONS

6.13 That the National Employment and Trainingscheme operate more in favour of workers who desire training, rather than those desiring retraining. (p .85)

6.14 That there be no constraints in regard tothe age of trainees on the National Em­ployment and Training scheme or to the length of the training period, (p.8 7)

6.15 That what eve r selection criteria operate inrespect of the National Employment and Training scheme be made publicly a v a i l ­able. (p•86)

6.16 That a statutory requirement be establishedaccording to which employers must c o m ­prise 3% of their staff with disabled persons, (p.8 7)

6.17 That information about the National E m p l o y ­ment and Training scheme be d i s s e m i n a ­ted in m u 1 1 i - 1 i n g u a 1 form at C o m m o n ­wealth Employment offices, post offices and other government centres, (pp. 88- 89)

6.18 That, without reducing the number of a p p r e n ­ticeships a va ilable to young people, the trade union movement approve the d e v e l o p ­ment of a program of adult a p p r e n t i c e ­ships according to which trainees be paid a wage equivalent to the National Employment and Training allowance. (p .89)

6.19 That an increasing number of language classesfor migrants and for Australians lacking literacy skills be established in f ac ­tories in a wide number of localities.( p . 90)

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RECOMMENDATIONS ( c o n t ' d . )

6.20 That vocational g ui d an ce and c o m pr eh en si vecareer information (including m anpower projections) be made available to all s c h o o 1 - c h i 1d r e n , starting in the late primary school years so as to help s t u ­dents with subject choice, (P P • 91 - 9 2)

6.21 That ext ens iv e pro vision be made for p e r ­sons a pp r oa c hi n g s c h o o 1 - 1eaving age to gain practical expe ri en ce in job s i tuat i o n s . ( p•93)

6.22 That e x te ns iv e p ro vision be made withinwork s it uations for persons who have joined the labour force at an early age to d evelop educational and o c c u p a ­tional skills, (p. 9*0

6.23 That job creation programs such as the R e ­gional E m pl oym en t and Development scheme be revived and expanded, e s pe ci al ly to help absorb persons who have recently left school into the labour market.( p•95)

6.2*t That job creation programs be evaluated r o as to show which workers are employed under the scheme, the nature of the w or k projects, their usefulness to the unem plo ye d and to the local community, the duration of jobs undertaken and their area of o p e r a t i o n . (P •96)

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CHAPTER 7

THE ROLE OF THE C O MM ONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT SERVICE

Persons register with the Commonwealth Employment Service in order to seek information about jobs and job training programs and to register for u n ­employment benefit.

Registrants need not be unemployed and many u n e m ­ployed persons do not, in fact, register with the Commonwealth E mployment Service, either because they do not qualify for unemployment benefit or because they decide against claiming it and re­gistering with an official agency. Young p e r ­sons who are about to leave school and employed persons wanting to switch jobs or secure job training will o cc as i on al ly register with the Com mo nwe al th Employment Service.

Two of the principal functions of the Commonwealth Employment Service are to act as a job referral agency and to provide career information. H o w ­ever, since the Comm on wealth Employment Service is also allotted the task of d et ermining who shall receive benefit, it operates simultaneously as a control and a helping agency. Inevitably, these functions are in conflict with each other and for the u nemployed person it is difficult to know which function is paramount. This is e s ­pecially the case when the Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service refers someone to a job that the person considers u ns uitable and may, therefore, be loathe to take. Should the person regard the re­ferral as a helpful gesture on the part of the C o mm on we alt h E mployment Service and return there in order to clarify his job preferences, or simply respond to the control function and take the first job in spite of its unsuitability?

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The key to the d e ci sio n p r esumably lies in the person's perc ep tio n of w he th er the Commonwealth E mp loyment Service concedes a right of the u n ­employed to e x er cis e s e le ctivity over job choice w it ho u t p re ju dic in g their claim for unemployment benefit.

D et er min at io n of E li g ib i li ty for Benefit

Unemployed persons who wish to claim benefit must of necessity, register with the Commonwealth Em­ployment Service so that their right to benefit may be assessed. It also means that surveillance of their job seeking will occur and if they are deemed to be 'unwilling to accept and perform w or k which is in keeping with their personal p r e ­ferences as far as is p ra c ti ca bl e and their abili ties, ap ti tudes or experience, qu al if ic at io ns and training,' 1 that u ne mp l oy me nt benefit will be withdrawn. Most u nemployed persons have no ‘q u a ­lifications' or 'training' and have worked in s em i-skilled and u ns killed jobs whi ch allow only very limited o p p o rt un i ti es to d e m o ns tr at e 'abili­ties' and 'aptitudes'. If the rules governing eligibility for u ne mp l oy me nt benefit are taken literally then most unem ployed people have no option but to take w ha t ev e r job they are directed to. Rather than provide any g uarantees that unem ployed people may not be coerced into accepting jobs which may be e n ti rel y unsat is fy in g (or even dangerous and noxious) the rules governing e l i ­gibility for u ne mp lo y me nt benefit make it possibl for the u ne mployed to be pressured into such jobs by the threat of c ur ta ilm en t of benefit.

1. C a m e r o n , C. (then M i n i s t e r f o r L a b o r a n d I m ­m i g r a t i o n ) : P r e s s r e l e a s e , A p r i l 14, 1974.

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It would appear that it is usual for Commonwealth Employment Service officers to exercise a certain degree of leniency in the application of the work test, as it is generally known. Nevertheless, there were several cases where it was the view of the unemployed person concerned and of the inter­viewer as well that the work test had been applied unfairly and arbitrarily:

A Greek woman had been retrenched from her job as a clothing machinist! Her task had involved machining cuffs. She was referred by the Commonwealth Employment Service to a job in which she was required to machine whole garments. She was not able to handle this task and within a few hours her new employer noted that she was not sufficiently skilled to do the job and dismissed her.The Commonwealth Employment Service referred her to two other jobs which had already been filled. When she next returned to the C o m ­m on wealth Employment Service she was informed that she had been work-tested. Only through the fortuitous presence in the Commonwealth Employment Service office of an unemployed, bi-lingual Greek man was she able to u n d e r ­stand what was happening. She related the story to one of our interpreters a few weeks later who referred her to a Greek-speaking w el fa r e rights officer.

Only very rarely are unemployed persons aware of the criteria upon which the work test is based. Merely the fear of being denied benefit may be sufficient to force someone into work that the person considers to be highly unsatisfying and unsu i tab 1e :

!

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"I guess beggars can't be choosers. I want to do electrical work. I know that I'd stick it for a very long time. It'd be a new o pp or tunity. Work would become a hobby. Where wou ld you get that sort of o p p o rt un it y in a factory? But the wife's pregnant and I'll just have to take anything. I don't want to work in a factory. It's a health risk. My father died from the poisonous fumes buil din g up. But they could take me off benefit, I suppose, if I don't take the job they send me to. I ‘always have a c ci de nt s when I work in a factory.It's d an ge rou s and you just have to do the job the way someone else tells you to. I'd really like to be an elec tr ic ia n. "

The work test rules are written in broad terms that leave them open to unfair and punitive a p ­plication. At the very least, they should be composed in such a way that people are protected from The d o ub l e j eo pa rd y of being out of work in the first place and feeling pressured into a c c e p ­ting d i s a g r e e a b l e (perhaps even noxious) work, subsequently.

Recently, the a p pl ic at ion of the work test has been very stringent. It has become customary for investigators from the Department of Social Security to call at the homes of unemployed p e r ­sons and to file a report to the Department of Social Security. During the course of the survey it became known that some people were taken off une mp lo yme nt benefit quite a rb it rarily following an 'investigation'. The power of investigators to have persons taken off benefit appears to be sweeping. Regrettably, reports recommending that the work test be a pplied are not made available to the unemployed:

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One of the interviewees telephoned the Department of Social Security to inquire about the delay in his unemployment b e n e ­fit cheque. Upon telephoning he was told that he had been taken off unemployment benefit. When he asked on what grounds it had been terminated he was told that an investigator had called around to his house. Finding no-one home he left a note on the door saying that he would call around the next day. The person concerned did not receive any note and was not at

,home when the investigator paid a return visit. The work test was then applied.The unem plo ye d person then went to the D epartment of Social Security and made a statement to a counter clerk who told him he wou ld receive a letter in about two weeks' time. In the meantime, the unemployed person referred himself to a w elfare rights officer and was forced to borrow money for food and rent.

In- principle, it is the Commonwealth Employment Service that applies the work test by reporting someone to the D ep artment of Social Security.The Department of Social Security is informed of the jobs offered to the person, wages payable, the sort of work the claimant is registered for and the claimant's reasons for refusing the work offered. This information i s •despatched to a registrar of the Department of Social Security under the signature of the assistant manager of the person's local Commonwealth Employment Service office. Usually, the claimant is then immediately taken off benefit. However, as has been pointed out above, this formal procedure for applying the work test has not always been followed of late and arbitrary, unjust decisions have been made.

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Appeals Procedure

When someone is taken off unemployment benefit a right of appeal now exists to a Social S e c u ­rity Appeals T r i b u n a l . ^ These tribunals, set up in February, 1975, comp rise a full-time member who is seconded from the Department of Social Security and two p art-time members with a w el fa r e or legal background. The full-time member is the a p po i nt e e of the Department of Social Security and the p art-time members are appointed by the Minister. Tribunals have been set up in Canberra and in each State capital.

Appeals may be lodged by anyone who wishes to contest a deci sio n that has been made with re­gard to a pension allowance, benefit or e n d o w ­ment. The appeal is lodged on a form available from any offi ce of the Depa rtment of Social S e ­curity. As a Depa rtm en t of Social Security publication, 'Your Right to A p p e a l 1 ^ points out, most appeals can be heard without the person a ct ual ly appearing before the tribunal,i.e., the appeal is heard on the basis of a written submission.

It would seem that if unem ployed people who are unjus tl y w o r k - te s te d are s ufficiently a rt ic u la t e and voci fer ou s in complaint from the outset the decision to deny them benefit is f requently reversed before they actually proceed to a formal appeal. By way of example:

2. F o r a m o r e d e t a i l e d a c c o u n t o f the a p p e a l s s y s t e m , the r e a d e r is r e f e r r e d to an a r t i c l e by Bill H u g h e s , The S o c i a l S e c u r i t y A p p e a l s S y s t e m , S o c i a l S e c u r i t y Q u a r t e r l y , A u t u m n 197 5.

3. D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y , Y o u r R i g h t to A p p e a l , F e b r u a r y , 1975.

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One man was told by the Department of Social Security that he had been taken off u n e m p l o y ­ment benefit. When he asked on what basis the decision had been made, he was informed by a counter clerk that 'the press had been kicking up a fuss about people bludging on the dole and so the rules were being tightened u p . 1 The man protested that he was not v o l u n ­tarily u nemployed and demanded, without s u c ­cess, to see someone in authority. He re­turned the next day and this time managed to see a higher level employee who reversed the earlier decision and authorized an over- t he-counter payment so that the man could pay his o verdue rent.

Information conveyed to survey interviewers by u ne mp loyment benefit claimants indicates that several other people were being w o r k - te st ed with similar arbitr ar in ess at that time. Presumably, less articulate, less forthright Australians and non-Eng 1 ish-speaking migrants did not fare so well in having such decisions overturned.

While the e st ab lis hm ent of machinery to protect the rights of the unemployed is unreservedly welcomed, it is regrettable that information about appeals is not w idely disseminated and that no formal appeals procedure ever existed for retrenched persons who were taken off in­come maintenance. No formal avenues existed for persons who wished to press their claim of e li gi bi li ty for income maintenance and the a s s i s ­tance of a wel far e rights officer was usually needed to do this.

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In respect of the total number of appeals lodged to Social Security Tribunals to the end of June, 1975, 19% had been upheld, 2 2% had been d i sa llo we d and 2% had been w it hd ra wn or finalised in other ways.** Fifty-seven per cent of appeals were yet to be heard. The size of this figure would seem to indicate lengthy delays before appeals are actually heard. During the interim period the a p p e l ­lant is wit hou t any income.

A p p r o x i m at e ly half of all appeals that are heard are upheld. This would seem to u n d e r ­line the u n sa t is f a c t o r y nature of the work test rules and the recent procedures for their application. In fact, the frequency with which unfair w o r k - t e st in g occurs is s ee mingly u nd er -e s ti ma t ed by these figures.It has already been pointed out that a p r o ­portion of d ec is i on s to 'work-test' are re­versed prior to any formal appeal being held. Furthermore, the e xi st e nc e of appeals t r i b u ­nals does not appear to be well known among the unemployed. It is not c us tomary to make a va il a bl e p amphlets, such as 'Your Right To Appeal', in C o mm o nw e al th E mployment Service offices as a m atter of policy and, c o n s e ­quently, some people in the sample who d i s ­puted the jus tic e of a decision that had been made in regard to them were not aware of their right of appeal.

4. T h e s e f i g u r e s a r e e x t r a c t e d f r o m a p a p e r d e l i v e r e d b y J. L l e o n a r t , D i r e c t o r o f I n f o r m a t i o n , D e p a r t m e n t o f S o c i a l S e c u r i t y , C a n b e r r a , on S e p t e m b e r 6, 1975 , to a s e m i ­n a r c o n d u c t e d b y the R o y a l C o m m i s s i o n on A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , on O p e n G o v e r n m e n t i n the S e v e n t i e s .

D i sc r et i o n a r y Payments

When an u n em plo ym ent benefit claimant is referred to a job by the Commonwealth Employment Service, then, theoretically, there exists an entitlement to free t r a v e l . 5 At the discretion of Commonwealth Empl oym en t Service staff, also, young persons under sixteen yeqrs of age may be granted a special b e n e ­fit as a substitute for unemployment benefit. U n ­fortunately, the e st ablishment of a provision for d i s c re ti o na ry payments to the unemployed is not at all tantamount to being made publicly available. It is apparent that information about certain rights is not disseminated to unemployment benefit claimants who, therefore, remain in ignorance of their rights.

Alth oug h the Commonwealth Employment Service staff are e mp ow ere d to issue vouchers for public and private transport, survey interviewers did not become aware of a case where this happened, nor, in fact, of anyone who was even aware of the e x i s ­tence of such a right. The matter is not incon­sequential from a financial point of view. For examp 1e :

A single, m iddle-aged man in receipt of $36. 00 weekly as unemployment benefit was paying $26.00 each week in rent.In his search for jobs, he bought two newspapers daily ($2.AO weekly) and e st imated that he spent a further $6-7 weekly in travelling to factories and in making telephone inquiries about jobs .

5. F o r d e t a i l s of d i s c r e t i o n a r y p a y m e n t s g o v e r n ­i n g fa res, the r e a d e r is r e f e r r e d to a s t a t e ­m e n t by the M i n i s t e r fo r L a b o u r a n d N a t i o n a l S e r v i c e , S e p t e m b e r 28, 1972. The s t a t e m e n t is r e p o r t e d in a pamphlet e n t i t l e d : T h e C o m m o n ­w e a l t h E m p l o y m e n t S e r v i c e F a r e s A s s i s t a n c e S c h e m e .

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The money he had left over for food, gas and e le c tr i ci t y and other expenses a m o u n ­ted to around $1.50 weekly. Host of the job referrals he made were s e 1f - referra 1s . However, on occasions, the Commonwealth Employment Service informed him of a job vacancy and in purs uing those jobs he spent upwards of a dollar on each occasion If he, and other u n em ployed persons in similar financial d ifficulty, were fully

rights, then some finan- a ccrue to them. As it faced with the choice job seeking or finding

elsewhere. In the event,

i nformed of their c i a 1 relief w o u 1d was, this man was of curtailing his financial reliefhe referred himself to a local voluntary w elfare agency which a ssisted him mone- t a r i 1 y .

Presumably, even people in dire need often go u n ­informed of all of their rights so that universal (and t i m e - c o n s u m i n g ) claims are not made. But it makes nonsense of m ak in g p rovision in the first place if potential c la imants are kept ignorant of their rights. The c on s eq ue nc e is that the financial burden is pushed onto v ol untary agencies in lieu of the r es po nsi bl e public authority.

Recently, p ro vision has been made for unemployed persons under sixteen years of age who have o f ­ficially left school to be paid a special b e n e ­fit (equivalent to the u ne mpl oy me nt benefit ratel if they are deemed to be in hardship and/or if they have p r ev iou sl y w or ke d for three months or more. The w r it er has made inquiries to three separate C o mm onw ea lth E mp loyment Service offices for information about the criteria used in d e c i ­ding w hether a young person's c ir cu mstances j u s ­tify payment of a special benefit. The gist of the replies is that guid elines exist and that the guidelines are confidential.

Most young people who were interviewed during the survey were not aware of the existence of special benefits. In a few cases interviewers adjudged that the young people they spoke with were in n ecessitous circu ms tan ces and referred them back to their local Comm on wealth Employment Service office to make a claim for special benefit. The consensus among interviewers was that there was no consist en cy about who was deemed eligible for special benefit. Individual officers seem to apply their discretion differen ti al ly and the unemployed remain uninformed.

It is contended, here, that the information re­garding the a va il a bi li t y of special benefit and fare vouchers should be made public knowledge and that whatever guidelines exist for determining eligib il it y should be disseminated to all c l a i m ­ants. It is pointless and paradoxical to e s t a b ­lish a right and then not to inform people of its e xi stence or how they may assess their own eligibility. The problem could be virtually eliminated if fully informative leaflets were displayed in C om monwealth Employment Service offices and other g overnment centres.

1 We're Here to Help'

The above quote is a sub-title from a C o m m o n ­w ealth Employment Service pamphlet. The pamphlet goes on to say that 'without fuss, or fee, the C om mo nwealth Employment Service helps with v o c a ­tional training and c ounselling and with labour recruitment and e mp loyment placement'. It is true that the C om mo nwealth Employment Service does provide cons id era ble help in these d i r e c ­tions. Nevertheless, there are areas where it appears d es irable that the degree of h e l p f u l ­ness provided by the Commonwealth Employment Service be increased.

s

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As has been indicated above, the unemployed are not w e l l - i n f o r m e d of their rights. If the e s ­tablishment of rights is to be of any value it is imperative that relevant information be made eas i 1y access i b 1e .

Since a large number of claimants are not fluent in English it is equally important that the whole range of information that is disse mi na te d by the C o mm on wea lt h Empl oym en t Service be mu 1 ti- 1 ingua 1 . The research shows that migrants, in particular, are confused about p ro cedure and their rights. Even in high migrant areas there was not a p r a c ­tice of recruiting interpreters to join C o m m o n ­w ealth E mployment Service staff teams. It is recognized that it is just not feasible to p r o ­vide a c o mp r eh e n s i v e interpreting service at every C o mm on wea lt h Empl oym ent Service office. However, an a l t e r na t iv e a rr angement would be to e st ablish a pool of interpreters who would c i r ­culate among C om mo nw e al th Employment Service offices and be ava ila bl e to the unemployed at specified (and published) times. As a p r e l i m i ­nary me asu re to a tt en u at e the disadv an ta ge accruing to m ig ra nt s who are not fluent in English it would be s u b s ta nt ia ll y helpful to them if all literature was a va ilable in multi- 1 i n g u a 1 form.

Many unem pl oy ed persons incur acute financial problems as a result of cheque delays. The need to es ta bli sh an eme rge nc y fund that could be flexibly a dm in ist er ed, by a regional Social Security office, for example, is emphasized by d if fi cu l ti e s such as the following:

"My wife and I came from Sydney because we heard there was more work in Melbourne.At the moment we're separated because we can't afford accommodation together. I'm living at a hostel. It's really a hostel for alcoholics. My wife's at another h o s ­tel that's overcr owded and she has to sleep on the floor so the pensioners can have a bed. Most rooms and hotels are too e xp ensive and we couldn't keep up the rent. We've found a room for $15-00 a week, but we need $2 5 - 00 for the bond. We'll be able to get that room if the cheque comes through on time. For the time being we'll have to stay in the h o s ­tels. We can't carry out clothes around with us so they're at the station where it costs 10<p a day. The only food we can eat is from cans or else we eat b read or chips."

With the e xi stence of provision for emergency payments it would also be possible to extend loans to help the unemployed obtain jobs that require initial financial outlays by applicants. For example, one man who had been retrenched from his job as a storeman wanted to return to his earlier occu pat io n of salesman. In order to get a sales job he needed to dress up for his interview. He had no appropriate clothes nor sufficient money to purchase them. Another man had once been a taxi-driver. He was keen to return to that work, but did not have any money and estimated that he needed $36. 00 to renew his t ax i-driver's licence. Thus, as well as relieving the financial (and emotional) plight of the unemployed an emergency fund could be used as an aid to job seeking.

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The chief aspects of C o mm onwealth Employment Service h el pf uln es s are in regard to job' p l a c e ­ment and the pro vis io n of vocational information. At times of high unempl oy ment, the degree of help that can be a d mi n is t er ed in these d i r e c ­tions inevitably d iminishes. Staff are under greater pres sur e than usual and can spend only a brief period of time d i sc ussing personal e m ­ployment needs. Even under normal circumstances an interview in depth is rare. In the present circum st an ces people may not even get beyond the counter and, when they do, receive only cursory attent i o n .

The C o mmo nwe al th E m pl oym en t Service accepts a task of assisting people to regain a place inthe w o r k force, has pointed o u t , task is hi ndered the s i mu 1taneous to benefit. The

However, as earlier discussion success in carrying out this by its i ncompatibility with func tio n of regulating claims u n em plo ye d are divided in theii

view of which role predominates. Probably, so too, are C o mm onw ea lth Empl oyment Service staff. W hether the u nemployed person eventually feels helped to find suitable work or intimidated by (even an unstated) threat of being taken off benefit will e ss e nt i al ly be determined by the interaction of the u n em plo yed person's own p r e ­d i sp os iti on s about the C om mon we al th Employment Service and the individual staff member's a t t i ­tudes and p erception of his function.

The C omm on we a lt h Empl oym en t Service also provides an agency service to emp loyers and, here again, c o nf li cti ng judgments may occur with regard to w he r e ob li gat io ns p ri ma r il y lie. Decisions s o m e ­times have to be made as to whet he r the needs of employers or the unem pl oyed should take p r e c e ­dence. The signs are that there are times when the employers' requ ir eme nt s are placed above the needs of the u nemployed person.

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It is common prac tic e by the Commonwealth E m ­ployment S ervice to refer several of its r eg i s ­trants to the one job. The object is to fill the vacancy as speedily as possible; but, more importantly, this practice operates as an u n q u a ­lified service to employers and a qualified b u g ­bear to the unemployed. One of the major sources of frustr at io n for unemployed persons is that with the number of people chasing jobs being c o ns id era bl y in excess of the number of job vacancies, rebuffs from prospective employers are inevitably common. The practice of the Com mon wea lt h Employment Service of making m u l ­tiple, s i mu l ta n eo us referrals to the one job indubitably increases the frustrations of the unemployed. The re appears to be no j u s t i f i c a ­tion for p r ov i di n g employers with a pool of a p ­plicants when it is known that the e xercise will be to the d i s a d v a n t a g e of at least all but one of the c andidates. It is the undertaking of the Com mon wea lt h Employment Service to assess the needs of its registrants. If this is done properly, then it should generally be possible for the C om mo n we al t h Employment Service to make a single a p p r o pr i at e referral which will satisfy the r eq uirements of the employer without being to the d e tr im en t of other unemployed persons. Should the e mp l oy e r not wish to appoint the a p ­plicant additional referrals could then be made. Of course, it is usually the case that staff spend insufficient time with registrants and are often not in a position to feel confident that the e m pl oye r will be pleased with the person sent for interview, or that the latter will feel suited to the job. Given that, the Commonwealth Employment Service must obviously make a decision as to which group its commitments will first be directed. To send a number of unemployed persons after the same job with the likelihood it will be taken before most of the applicants arrive for interview seems to be an insensitive measure that takes m e ag r e account of the c on siderable f r u s t r a ­tions and setbacks that have already been the e xp er i en c e of the unemployed and can only serve to erode w h a t e v e r faith they have in the C o m m o n ­wealt h E mp lo y me n t Service as a helping agency.

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As an aspect of the helping role Commonwealth E m pl oy me nt Service youth officers attend each local school to talk with students approaching s c h o o 1 - 1eaving age about career opportunities.A Careers Reference Centre also provides a range of vocational i nformation to interested persons and the Vocational G uidance Branch employs a team of p sy ch o lo gi st s whom school- leavers may consult for help with career choice. In spite of the e xi st en ce of these services, most s ch o ol - le av er s have little idea of what jobs are currently, or prospectively, a v ai l ab le to them. And the m ajority of the unem pl oye d are ill-informed about training opportuni ti es. Both these facts underscore the need for an ext ens io n of services concerned with supplying career information and guidance.To a c co mp li sh this would require re-allocation of staff resources or, more likely, an enlarged staff team. In the current u nemployment crisis it is evident that the C o mm on we al th Employment Service staff have borne a heavy work load and are often not able to spend an app ro pr ia te amount of time in disc us sio n with registrants.

S ta ff i ng

In order to help the C o mm o nw ea lt h Employment S e r ­vice meet the heavy demands on its services, the staff e st a bli sh men t was increased in the early part of 1975 through the appointment of temporary staff. The a pp oi ntm en t of temporary staff no doubt relieved aspects of the work-load, though one would predict that it created the sort of problems alluded to by Mr Kimball, First Assistant Direct or -G ene ral (Management) of the Department of Soc i a 1 Security:

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"The Public Service Board agreed in the face of the evid ence that our existing staff was quite inadequate to cope with u ne mp loyment benefits ... However, we then had to recruit people and train them, get them into the system and make them productive - a time-consuming p r o ­cess - before they became effective units in handling unemployment benefit c l a i m s . " ^

Replying to a more recent question from the Senate Estimates Committee as to whether the Department of Social Security would be able to carry out its duties adequately, Mr Kimball announced t h a t :

"... it would be quite impossible to give any g ua rantee that we can. We had severe difficulty trying to improve the level of service and provide an adequate level of service with the pressures, particularly in the u ne mp loyment benefit area, last year with that level of activity. I think we can see some difficulty in being able to bring about the sorts of improve­ments we would like to make this y e a r . "7

Training programs had to be reduced to less than one-third of their normal length.8

6 . H a n s a r d : S e n a t e E s t i m a t e s C o m m i t t e e , A p r i l 17,1975, p. 171 .

7. H a n s a r d : S e n a t e E s t i m a t e s C o m m i t t e e , S e p t e m b e r11, 1975, p . 61.

8 . H a n s a r d : S e n a t e E s t i m a t e s C o m m i t t e e , A p r i l 17,, p p .17 3-4.1 9 7 5

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It is to be expected that, with a sizeable and sudden increase in e ss e nt i al ly untrained staff at the C om mo nw e al th Employment Service, similar dif fi cu lt ie s would have arisen. While p r o c e s ­sing of forms may have been expedited, it is unlikely that t e mp or ar y staff would have been able to gain c o m p r e h e n s i v e knowledge of c l a i m ­ants' rights or acq uir e interviewing skills before being thrown into the thick of things.

Reports from interviewees indicate that the e m ­phasis is very much on processing of a p p l i c a ­tions and that only by being obdurate can one be sure of getting an interview. In fact, int er ­views tend to be so brief anyway that it seems impossible for staff to develop a t ho rough-going a pp re ci at i on of the empl oy ment and training needs of applicants.

Interviewees e xp ressed w i dely differing views about the a tt i tu d e of the staff at the C o m m o n ­weal th Empl oym en t Service. Thirty-four per cent thought that staff did not try to help them and a larger p r op ort io n were disgruntled that the Comm on wea lth Empl oym en t Service did not seem to be able to help, in spite of their attempts to do so. The pro ble m is partly that the C o m m o n ­wealth Empl oy men t S e r v ic e has a high percentage of low status, u ns at is f yi ng jobs on its register and partly that certain staff members seem to express n eg at iv e a tt itudes to the unemployed.As staff have been under c on si de ra bl e pressure of late and the unem plo ye d have suffered e n o r ­mous f ru str at ion s one would expect interactions between the two groups to be somewhat less a g r e e ­able than usual. But, when cheques are delayed and no pro vis io n is made for emergency cash re ­lief in such instances, and facilities such as interpreting help are not provided by the C o m m o n ­wealth E mployment Service, exacer ba ti on of the frustrations of the u nemployed is inevitable.The fundamental question that poses itself is w hether the services provided meet the needs of the u n e m p 1o y e d .

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Do Service and Need C o r r e s p o n d ?

It is a truism that what the unemployed need most is help to find jobs. Without question, numerous unemployed persons are helped by the Commonwealth Employment Service to find suitable jobs. It is, by far, the major job agency with the only register of local job vacancies. Accordingly, the unemployed may be p a rt icu la rly reliant upon it. It has been argued above, however, that the dual Commonwealth Employment Service functions of helper and arbiter introduce an unfort un at e element of role conflict into the situation as a result of which it is sometimes d if ficult for the unemployed to sort out whe the r they are the subject of help or c o e r ­cion. The Comm on wea lt h Employment Service could minimize its role as arbiter, somewhat, by issuing the u ne mployed with a chit that may be presented for payment of benefit at the nearest Department of Social Security office. In so doing its f u n c ­tion as a public service, particularly in terms of ch ann el lin g the job seeking of its registrants, could be emphasised.

In fact, however, the degree of direction that the unemployed require in finding new jobs is open to question. An agency ^such as the C o m m o n ­wealth Employment Service) may supervise and direct the j ob -s eek in g activities of the u n e m ­ployed or simply provide information and e n c o u r ­age the unemployed to act on their own behalf.David Griffiths has contended that:

"... the unemployed must be given the o p ­portunity to identify and resolve their own problems. Any programmes and p o l i ­cies that depart from this basic p r i n ­ciple are. invariably paternalistic b e ­cause they create a de facto situation which forces unemployed persons to be dependent on others." 9

9 . U n e m p l o y m e n t : The F a c t s a n d E f f e c t s , AS o c i a l A c t i o n S t ud y, B r o t h e r h o o d o f St L a u r e n c e , N o v e m b e r , 1972.

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R ecognizing the d e si r ab i li ty of s e l f - d e t e r m i n a ­tion the Swedish a ut ho rities, for example, make c om pr e he n si v e job lists a v ai lable to the u n e m ­ployed. 10 These lists are updated weekly and include details of the job specification, pay scales and terms of employment. This kind of scheme removes any w at c hd o g role over the u n e m ­ployed and credits them with personal i nitia­tive and integrity. For those reasons it has much to commend it.

Earlier d i s c u s s i o n ^ has d e monstrated that the unemployed g en erally do s igni fi ca nt ly more j o b ­seeking on their own initiative than on the promptings of the C om mo n we al th Employment S er ­vice, in any case. Because updated lists of local jobs o pp or t un i ti es are not compiled and made av ail ab le to the unemployed, an enormous amount of time, money and energy is wasted in seeking out jobs that have already been filled.A local bureau that provided the unemployed with easy access to comp re hen si ve, u p-to-date job in­formation drawn from direct employer referrals and ne wsp ap er a dv er tis e me n ts - and provided a free, o n- t he - sp o t t el ephone service - would go some way towards a tt e nu a ti ng the frustrations of the u nemployed and increasing the e fficiency of their job-seeking. The pool of information that the u nemployed, themselves, would be able to share in such a centre would have far-reaching value, as well.

10. F a c t S h e e t s on S w e d e n : A c t i v e M a n p o w e rP o l i c y in S w e d e n , M a k i n g L a b o u r M a r k e t s W o r k , - a c o m p a r i s o n o f the U.K. and S w e d i s h s y s t e m s . S w e d i s h I n s t i t u t e f o r C u l t u r a l R e l a t i o n s w i t h F o r e i g n C o u n t r i e s , J u l y , 1970 . S e e e s p e c i a l l y : p p .63-6.

11. S e e C h a p t e r 5, p . 7 4 o f th is r e p o r t .

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Since many unemployed do not register with the C om monwealth Employment Service and those who do so tend to seek out their own jobs rather more than relying on the Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service, the indications are that the u n ­employed would prefer to be able to organize their own search for employment. Findings from an unpublished survey undertaken by the A u s t r a ­lian Bureau of Statistics on behalf of the (then) Department of I m m i g r a t i o n ^ also point to a p r e ­ference for self-help in arranging jobs. Of migrant heads of f a m i 1 i e s •arriving in Australia only 1A.A% secured employment via the C o m m o n ­wealth Employment Service, A0.6& obtained their first job w ithout the help of any individual or organization, and A6% chose not to register with the Commonwealth Employment Service. Given their local knowledge it would be expected that an even higher p e rc ent age of A us tr alian-born persons would choose not to register with the C om monwealth Employment Service were it not for the fact that n o n - r eg i st ra ti on precludes payment of u ne mp loyment benefit. Indeed, a survey of young workers found that 61% of the sample did not register with the Commonwealth Employment Service.^ 3

The other side of the 'service versus n e e d 1 coin is the extent to which employers feel that the Com mo nwe al th Employment Service can fulfil their requirement. It is impossible to know exactly what proportion of employers register their job vacancies with the C om monwealth Employment Service.

12. A u s t r a l i a n B u r e a u o f S t a t i s t i c s , U n p u b l i s h e d s t ud y, O v e r s e a s - b o r n h e a d s o f f a m i l i e s who a r r i v e d in A u s t r a l i a in the p e r i o d J a n u a r y , 1 9 6 3 to June, 1 9 7 3 . July , 1974.

13. S u r v e y o f Y o u n g W o r k e r s , op. ci t., p.8.

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It is apparent, however, that most of the jobs that come to the notice of the C om monwealth E m ­ployment Service are s e mi - sk il le d and unskilled jobs, pres um ab ly r e fl ect in g a notion among e m ­ployers that C om mo nw e al th Employment Service registrants will rarely be skilled or experienced in h ig h- st at us jobs. Hence, the Common we al th E m ­ployment Service registrant becomes stigmatized as a low-status w o r k e r . 1^ Consequently, skilled w orkers are further dete rred from registering and so the process of s ti g ma ti za ti on is a g g r a v a ­ted. There are two additional upshots of this cycle. Firstly, b ecause e mployers do not usually notify the C om mo nw e al th E mployment Service of skilled jobs, h ig h- sta tu s workers will be less likely to receive help from the C om monwealth E mp loyment Service when they do register with it. As one woma n complained:

"You feel intimidated by the Commonwealth E mployment Service in that you get o f ­fered m un da n e jobs. It's d em or al iz in g because you can't get into what you want.You feel h u mi lia te d having to go to the C omm on we a lt h E mp loyment Service and on a lower social scale being u nemployed."

14. U n e m p l o y e d p e r s o n s w i t h p r o f e s s i o n a l q u a ­l i f i c a t i o n s a n d / o r e x p e r i e n c e a r e r e f e r r e d to a ' P r o f e s s i o n a l a n d E x e c u t i v e ' s e c t i o n in the city. T h er e, t h e y a r e g u a r a n t e e d an i n t e r v i e w a n d a m o r e c a r e f u l a p p r a i s a l o f t h e i r c a r e e r p o s s i b i l i t i e s t h a n is g e n e r a l l y the c a s e at l o c a l C o m m o n w e a l t h E m p l o y m e n t S e r v i c e o f f i c e s . In o t h e r w o r d s , d i s c r i m i n a ­ti on o c c u r s i n t h e i r f a v o u r . O n l y s i x p e o p l e in the s u r v e y s a m p l e s a t i s f i e d the c r i t e r i a u p o n w h i c h r e f e r r a l s to the ' P r o f e s s i o n a l a n d E x e c u t i v e ' s e c t i o n a r e b a s e d . N o n e o f t h e s e p e o p l e wa s r e f e r r e d to a j o b as a r e s u l t o f t h e i r v i s i t ( s ) to that s e c t i o n , a g a i n r e f l e c ­t i n g the d e a r t h o f h i g h - s t a t u s j o b s th at a r e n o t i f i e d to the C o m m o n w e a l t h E m p l o y m e n t S e r v i c e .

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Secondly, the likely emphasis with regard to s e mi- sk il led and unskilled registrants will be on slotting them into any readily available jobs since it is pointless to talk to them in depth about their job a sp ir ations if only a handful of skilled jobs are on the books. A l ­though the introduction of the National E m p l o y ­ment and Training Scheme has gone some way t o ­wards a lleviating these problems they continue to be prominent for large numbers of unemployed persons.

The other major area in which unmet needs are apparent is that covering access to information and benefit entitlements. It remains impossible for the unemployed to exercise more than a m o d i ­cum of control over their circ um st an ce s while access to information about their rights is not always made available, (for example, criteria for assessing e li gi bil ity to special benefit, ready availability of appeal forms, information about discretionary payments such as fare money to jobs, availability of interpreters and m u l t i ­lingual forms and pamphlets).. Even more impor­tantly, the u nemployed are in no position to plan financially while a situation prevails in wh ic h cheques covering benefit entit le me nt s are f re quently delayed. This problem could be o v e r ­come by making e me rg ency cash payments available ac co rd in g to the person's need. It is of small c o ns ol at ion to someone who is without money for food or rent to be told that inquiries will be made on their behalf.

The lack of rights information, the absence of provision for e me rgency relief and the imposed d e p e nd e nc e on the u ne mployed when it comes to job seeking suggest underlying assumptions of mistr us t of the ability and integrity of the u nemployed to find a solution to their own p r o b ­lems.

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The indications from the survey are that the u ne mp l oy e d would make r es p on si bl e and frequent use of local centres which provided a wide range of resources related to their e m p l o y ­ment needs. Arising out of a series of d i s ­cussions within the B r ot h erhood of St Laurence's Social Issues Group a formal proposal for an 'Employment, Resource and Information Centre' has been prepared by the B rot he rh oo d' s Social Policy Officer. A request for funding has re­cent ly been made of the D e partment of Labor and Immigration. The proposal is discussed in A pp e nd ix B. In essence., it is seen as an e x ­perimental project in which the unemployed are able to det erm in e their own needs and through which they would have enhanced oppo rt un it ie s for s elf-help in o b ta i ni n g jobs and in dealing with other problems a s s oc i at ed with their unem- p 1oymen t .

R EC OM ME ND A TI O NS

7.25 That the p ro ce dur e w h e r e b y a person mayb e 'w o r k - t e s t e d ‘ be given in written form to all u nemployed people upon registering for unemployment benefit, (pp.101-102)

7.26 That persons who are 'w o r k -t es te d ' begiven a w ri tt e n report o ut lining the reasons for the decision. (p . 103)

7.27 That information about the right of a p ­peal and appeals procedure be written in mu 1t i- 1 ingua 1 form and be clearly displayed at each Common we al th E m p l o y ­ment Service o f f i c e .(p.106)

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7.28 That all appeals be heard within fourteendays of being lodged, (p.107)

7.29 That the unemployed be informed of theirright to travel vouchers when they are referred to a job by the Commonwealth Employment Service. (p .109)

7.30 That the criteria according to which p e r ­sons under sixteen years of age may be entitled to special benefit be made publicly a v a i 1a b 1e .( pp .109"110)

7.31 That all C om mo nwealth Employment Serviceliterature be printed in mu 1ti - 1 i n g u a 1 form and be clearly displayed at each off i c e .(p.111)

7.32 That the D epartment of Labor and Immigra­tion appoint a team of interpreters who could c ir culate among Commonwealth Employment Service o f f i c e s .(p •111)

7.33 That a special e mergency fund be e s t a b ­lished for unemployed persons who re­quire lump sum payments in order to assist them in o vercoming a c c o m m o d a ­tion problems and barriers to re-em- p 1oymen t .(p .112)

7.34 That the Comm onw ealth Employment Servicepractice of making multiple, s i m u l t a ­neous referrals to the one job be abandoned, (pp.113“ 114)

7.35 That the C om mo nwealth Employment Serviceissue the unemployed with a chit that may be presented for payment of b e n e ­fit at the nearest Department of Social Security o f f i c e .(p •118)

7 . 3 6 That regularly up-dated lists of job v a c a n ­cies, including details of pay and w o r k ­ing conditions, be made available to the unemployed through Commonwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service o f f i c e s .( p •119)

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7.37 That the D e pa rtm en t of Labor and Immigra ­tion e n co ur ag e and financially support com mun it y groups and individuals (es­pecia ll y u ne mployed persons) to e x ­periment with projects aimed at im­proving and e xp an di ng services to the unemployed, (p.123)

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CHAPTER 8

QUESTIONS OF W OR K INCENTIVE AND INCOME MAINTENANCE

Increasingly, the prospect and implications of in­troducing a guaranteed minimum income scheme in A ust ralia have become vexed issues within the social wel far e field. The recently published first Main Report of the Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into Poverty^ made its main r ecommendation the planning of a guaranteed m inimum income scheme; an experimental income m ain ten an ce scheme for 60 families has now been operating for three years under the auspices of the Brotherhood of St Laurence; discussions of income m a i n t en a nc e proposals have been central to the work of the Priorities Review S ta ff .2 A Federal Ministerial Committee that will study practical details of g uaranteed minimum income proposals has latterly been established.

A cco rding to a g ua ranteed minimum income scheme, a poverty line is e s ta b lished and everyone is guaranteed an income above the level of that poverty line. The poverty line adopted by the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty is adjusted according to national average weekly earnings.

I t i s :

"A d ef inition of poverty so austere as, we believe, to make it unchallengeable.No one can seriously argue that those we define as being poor are n o t . "3

1. P o v e r t y I n q u i r y , op. cit., p p . 67-87.

2. P r i o r i t i e s R e v i e w S t a f f , A s s i s t a n c e for S t r u c t u r a l A d j u s t m e n t , I n c o m e M a i n t e n a n c e e t c ., C a n b e r r a , A u g u s t , 1975, p p . 17-25.

H e n d e r s o n , R o n a l d F; H a r c o u r t , A; H a r p e r , R . J . A . , P e o p l e in P o v e r t y - A M e l b o u r n e S u r ­v e y , R e p r i n t e d , w i t h s u p p l e m e n t , 1975, p.l.

3.

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The poverty line conforms

"to standards based on scientific r e q u i r e ­ments for good n ut rition and health, inso far as purely physical needs have been determined , and to social standards that have been revealed by studies of actual family p ur c ha s e. " ^

Alth ou gh the e s ta b li s h m e n t of an income based on such standards may well eliminate absolute poverty, poverty as a relative state, would persist to v i rt ua ll y the same degree as at present and major social and economic i nequa­lities would remain. The chief advantage of a guaranteed m in im u m income scheme is that it would a ll eviate the serious plight of the 18% of A us tr al ia ns who are e st im ated to be living either below the pov ert y line or less than 2 0% above i t . 5

The benefit that would accr ue to this group re ­presents a powerful argument for the introduction of an income m a i n t e n a n c e scheme as a step towards tackling economic and social injustices. The major factor that seems to stand in the way of the eventual implement at ion of a guaranteed m i n i ­mum income proposal is the fear that if people are offered an a s su r an c e of income, many of them would choose not to work. Yet, the level of p a y ­ment envisaged under the particular guaranteed mi ni mu m income scheme proposed by the Poverty Inquiry is an a ustere level that is unlikely to deter people from w or ki n g for a higher income.It is also pertinent to note that those internal and external influences that currently ensure

4 . I b i d , p .26.

A u s t r a l i a n G o v e r n m e n t C o m m i s s i o n o f I n q u i r y i n t o P o v e r t y , P o v e r t y in A u s t r a l i a , I n t e r i m R e p o r t , C a n b e r r a , M a r c h , 19 74, p.9.

5.

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w o r k force parti ci pat io n by low-income groups would continue to operate in similar fashion under the suggested income m a i n te na nc e scheme. Firstly, many workers, who currently receive a wage that is less than their benefit e n t i t l e ­ment wou ldb ei f they were out of work, show a clear preference for remaining in the work force in spite of their pay and conditions. Secondly, were people to become voluntarily unemployed, they would be 1 w o r k - t e s t e d 1 and e ligible for only a portion of the guaranteed income level.

The poor, are often assumed to be lazy and are commonly held responsible for having produced their own plight. Advocates of this view, therefore, believe that removing the threat of absolute poverty would give predispositions of idleness among the poor an unbridled e x p r e s ­sion. An essential element of this outlook is that the poor work only for money. It would rarely, if ever, be argued that workers with professional status are motivated to work solely for econ omi c reasons. Yet the poor are still viewed as culturally and m o t i v a ­tionally distinct from the rich. In the c o n ­text of a d iscussion about income maintenance, Ma ca ro v has pointed out the illogicality of such a dichotomy. In the absence of an income m ai n te n an c e scheme the poor are held to be like all other people in that they want higher in­come; but with a g ua rantee of a reasonable income their a cq u is i ti ve values are diluted, along with their m o ti vation to go on working.

"Thus, the more e c onomically different they are, the more morally similar; and the more e co no mi ca ll y similar, the more morally d if fe rent." 6

M a c a r o v , D ., I n c e n t i v e s to W o r k , J o s s e y - B a s s Inc-., San F r a n c i s c o , 1970, p . 2 2 2

6.

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The a rgu me nt for the importance of the economic incentive for low- inc om e workers does achieve p r om in enc e in those s i tu ations in which the poor work in m on ot o no us jobs that demand little input of skill and have low status and d i s a g r e e ­able conditions of work. In such cases, the importance of e co n om i c m o ti v a t i o n relative to other factors is inevitably highlighted, not out of personal decision, but out of the u n a v a i l a ­bility of o pp or t un i ti es for self-fulfilment, a t ­tainment of status, and so on, through the work p r o c e s s .

When it is the case that the poor are not only in jobs that offer a l i e na ti on rather than s a t i s ­fying involvement and social prestige, but their financial rewards are m ea gre as well, the q u e s ­tion must be seriously posed as to whether d is ag re eab le, dirty work would be persisted with if a guaranteed m i n i m u m income was on o f ­fer. The issue is not just the effect on work incentive, therefore. It is also necessary to raise the ques tio n of the ethics of r ew a r ­ding full-time w o rk er s with a wage that may keep them fend their families; on, or below, s ub s is te n ce levels. Indeed, it raises the q u es ti on of the effect of a guaranteed mini mu m income on the very social order. Once the basic financial position of the poor is u n d e r ­wr it te n society's g u ar a nt e e that there will be people around to p e r f or m the dirty and u n r e w a r ­ding jobs is j e o p a rd i ze d unless the degree of unp le as an tn ess and dang er that inheres in c e r ­tain work is reduced and w orkers in those jobs that remain odious are s u b s ta nt ia ll y reimbursed for their efforts.

At present:

"Working conditions in Australian factories range from good to archaic, unhealthy and unsafe. Migrants and women on whom some parts of m a n uf a ct ur in g depend are d i s a d ­vantaged and even exploited. Many workers are frustrated and dissatisfied with jobs that offer them little interest or sense of personal i n v o 1v e m e n t ."7

While an income m ai n te n an ce scheme would do nothing to al le via te the sense of alienation felt by large numbers of people wor king m et ho di ca ll y in u n i n t e r e s ­ting, and perhaps, unhealthy jobs, nor cause inade­quate wage floors to be increased, its introduction would be a significant step towards eliminating the extremes of e co no mi c deprivation. Since public a cc ep ta b il i ty and, perhaps, the economic feasibility, of introducing a guaranteed minimum income scheme will be ensured only if there follows no p r o l i f e r a ­tion of work -sh y attitudes then the question of its effect on the moti vat io n to work must be dwelt 'upon. The evid enc e that is available suggests that the incentive to work is not eroded by the a v a i l a bi l it y of an income m ai nt enance scheme and that in all but the most u ns atisfactory work s i t u a ­tions, economic incentives are merely one aspect of p e r s o n s 1 moti va tio n to work.

1. In a social e xperiment to test the impact of a guaranteed i.ncome on motivation to work 1350 randomly selected, low-income families in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were assigned to either an experimental or a control group for the three-year durationof the experiment. Those in the control group received no transfer p a y ­ments. The findings of the experiment caused the researchers to conclude that:

7. R e p o r t to the P r i m e M i n i s t e r b y the C o m m i t ­tee to A d v i c e on P o l i c i e s f o r M a n u f a c t u r i n g I n d u s t r y . P o l i c i e s for D e v e l o p m e n t o f M a n u ­f a c t u r i n g I n d u s t r y , Vol 1, A G r e e n P a pe r, O c t o b e r 1975, p.87.

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"For most groups of p articipants, the various measures of labor supply showed reduction relative to the control of less than 10 percent; many of the d i ff er en ti al s were much smaller, and often were not s t a t i s ­tically d if fe ren t from zero.

Indeed for black families s ta ti stically signif ic an t reductions in labor supply were vir tua ll y never found, and in a number of cases a s t at is t i c a l l y s i g n i f i ­cant increase in w o r k effort was observed. Only for wives were large p e rc en ta ge re­ductions observed with any con si st en cy ... they were large only relative to the initially small amounts of labor supplied by wives ...

... A p p r o x i m a t e l y 95 percent of all hus- bans, in both the treatment and control groups, were in the labor force during any survey week thro ughout the experiment. There was no s ig n if i ca nt reduction in either labor force p a rt icipation or e m ­ployment rates for either white or black husbands, altho ug h w hites did reduce slightly the number of hours worked per week ...

... There is no e vi d en ce here that even a small p r op ort io n of male heads would drop out of the labor force c ompletely in response to such a plan; small labor supply reductions are likely to be evenly spread over large numbers of workers.

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W i t h o u t a m a n d a t o r y w o r k r e q u i r e m e n t (Italics mine) the male heads of families maintained high levels of labor force participation under all of the experimental p l a n s . "8

Also, the most generous negative tax plan showed the smallest treatment e f f e c t s . 9

2. It has been estimated by the Child Poverty Action Group in Britain that there are 50,000 people in the work force who could be receiving more money if they relied entirely on social security.10 Although, dire ctl y c om parable figures are not a v a i l ­able with regard to the situation in A u s ­tralia there is certainly a very large number of low-paid workers with large families who se wages are less than their benefit e nt it lem ent would be were they out of work. The Poverty Inquiry shows that ‘3-9 per cent of non-aged adult in­come units headed by a person in the work force are very p o o r , 1 i.e. below the poverty l i n e . 11 The fact that numerous workers in this position show an inclination to hold onto their jobs, regardless of e conomic re­turn or work conditions, is a strong c o u n ­ter to any s uggestion of a preference for idleness over work activity.

3. In the B rotherhood of St Laurence's Family Centre Project which provided an income supplement to the minimum wage level,

8. N e w J e r s e y G r a d u a t e d W o r k I n c e n t i v e E x p e r i m e n t : A s o c i a l e x p e r i m e n t in n e g a t i v e t a x a t i o n s p o n ­s o r e d b y the O f f i c e o f E c o n o m i c O p p o r t u n i t y , S u m m a r y R e p o r t , U.S. D e p a r t m e n t o f H e a l t h , E d u c a t i o n a n d W e l f a r e , p . i i i - v i i .

9. Ibid , se e p . 13 1.

10. F i el d, F., W e e k e n d M a g a z i n e P r o g r a m , S u f f e r The L i t t l e C h i l d r e n , A B V . 2 , O c t o b e r 19, 1975.

11. P o v e r t y I n q u i r y , op. cit., p.16 .

(con t 1d . )with additional allo wances for dependents, there are no indications that the income g ua r a n t e e d i sc o ura ge s work activity. On the contrary, early in the project 71% of the men were cur ren tl y and c h r o ni ca ll y u n ­employed. Eighteen months later, at a time of much less favourable labour market c ond iti on s, only 29% remained in that same c a t e g o r y . 12

The c urrent survey reveals that a person's length of u n em pl oym en t was not affected by w h e t he r or not they were e ligible for u n e m ­ploym en t benefit. Two-thirds of those with e x p e r i e n c e of previous unemployment had not always taken up their right to benefit and between a q uarter and a third of the sample had d elayed their registration for benefit. If the prio rit y among the unemployed is to last out for as long as possible on g o v e r n ­ment h an do ut s then these findings would not occur. The firm indication from the survey is that the priority for the unemployed is to secure a job. Neither is the moti va ti on for work p r im a r i l y economic. A third of all persons in the sample were seeking work that was in conf lic t with their actual choice and, in many cases, in conflict with their a s pi r ati on s for better conditions and higher pay as well. Moreover, the link between one's work a c t i v i t y and one's self -i de nt it y is c learly and f r eq uently stated. It is a significant p ro bl e m for the low paid and the u ne mployed that they are often trapped in a situation in w hi c h their propensity for b e ­ing recipients of benefit exceeds their o p ­p ortunities for making a meaningful c o n t r i ­bution through their work. Partly for that reason 6 0% of the survey sample expressed a desire for job training.

L i f f m a n , M. T he F a m i l y C e n t r e P r o j e c t 'S ec on d O v e r v i e w ' B r o t h e r h o o d o f St L a u r e n c e (in p r i n t ) .

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5. Where econ omi c factors are not necessarily of prime importance many people still choose to work. The very wealthy for whom extra income is incidental, as such, usually continue working. Miller found that only one family out of a hundred in the top 5% lived entirely on unearned in­come; the other 99 did paid work and were s e l f - e m p l o y e d . ^ Messer discovered that of retired civil servants in theUnited States began second careers or re ­turned to work in some f a s h i o n . 1**

Seemingly, the incentive to work is not governed solely, or even principally, by eco no mi c c o n s i ­derations unless o pp or tunities for s e l f - f u l f i l ­ment, prestige, mateship, and so on, cannot be satisfied through one's work. When such o p p o r ­tunities are present then economic incentives must be seen as one factor in the total m o t i v a ­tional set. In the absence of such opportunities then, it seems more a ppropriate to direct attention at altering the conditions of work and increasing the prospects of job training rather than d e l i b e r a ­ting upon the more disputatious issue of whether an income m a in t ena nc e scheme would erode work incen­tives.

As Rein has pointed out:

"the hope that econ omic incentives alone could enc our ag e work is i l l u s o r y ."15

13. I n M a c a r o v , D. Op. cit., p . 14 9.

14. M e s s e r , E. A. T h i r t y - e i g h t y e ar s is a p l e n t y , Ci v i l S e r v i c e J o u r n a l , O c t o b e r / D e c e m b e r , 1964, p . 2 4 .

R e i n , M. 'W o r k I n c e n t i v e s a n d W e l f a r e R e f o r m in B r i t a i n an d the U n i t e d S t a t e s ' in S t e i n , B. a n d M i l l e r , S.M. (Eds). I n c e n t i v e s a n d Planning in S o c i a l P o l i c y , Ch. 7., p . 1 8 9 , 1973.

15.

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Slmilarly, research by G o o d w i n ^ demonstrates, predictably, that although low pay has an adverse effect on work incentive, lack of success at w or k and the p re va l en c e of poor working condi-' tions reduce e arlier incentives. A guaranteed m in im u m income woul d e l im in ate the extremes of poverty and remove the^ threat over the poor to work in those very low paid jobs o ffering d i s ­a gr ee ab le c o nd iti on s of work. Whether it would prove to be a catalyst for the a m e l i o ra ti on of such cond it io ns by e mp loyers is equivocal. The indications from the current survey are that a l ­most all of the u nemployed would prefer work, regardless of its c onditions and pay, to idle­ness and financial d ependence. If that proved to be the case the p os si bil ity arises that those employers w ho pay wages that leave workers with large families below s u bs i stence standards would end up being s u bs idi se d under a g uaranteed m i n i ­mum income scheme.

The additional wage that they would need to pay in order to take emp loy ee s above a s ub si stence level would be met under the negative tax plan operated as part of the income m a i n t en an ce scheme. It is c o ns e rv a t i v e l y estimated that there are 110,000 A us tr a li an work force members, and their families in many cases, whose income leaves them below the poverty l i n e . ^7

The question arises as to how far the specific g uaranteed m i n i mu m income scheme proposed by the A ustralian Gove rnm en t C om mission of Inquiry into Poverty would go in o ve r tu r ni ng situations of poverty. Clearly, the strength of the proposal lies in the effect that it would have in e l i m i n a ­ting c hronic and dire poverty.

16. G o o d w i n , L., Do the p o o r w a n t to w o r k ? S e e e s p . p p . 8 , 81, 1 1 4 - 1 1 7 .

17. T h i s f i g u r e is c a l c u l a t e d o n the b a s i s o f the P o v e r t y I n q u i r y ' s e s t i m a t e that 3.9% o f n o n - a g e d a d u l t i n c o m e u n i t s h e a d e d b y a p e r s o n in the w o r k f o r c e a r e b e l o w the p o v e r t y line . S e e P o v e r t y I n q u i r y , op. cit. ,p .16.

- 1 3 6 -

Numerous people would be better off financially under the scheme. However, as the Poverty In­quiry itself reminds us the level at which the income guarantee would be set is an austere level based on min imu m nutritional and health requirements. As such, it offers no guarantee of a standard of living that is anything more than basic. One of the effects of setting such an austere level is that the chances of work incentive being eroded are a bsolutely minimal. Only if an income m a in tenance scheme g u a r a n ­teed a comfor ta bl e standard of living would there be any real likelihood of lowered m o ­tivations to work and, even then, as has been argued earlier, probably only among those who are employed in e xt remely d is ag re ea bl e c o n d i ­tions.

In the light of the present shift from labour intensive to capital intensive industry, it is arguable whe the r it is desirable to go on m a x i ­mizing w or k force p ar ticipation rather than elimin at in g some jobs and reducing the number of hours required in others. As the Australian Council of Social Services has commented:

"With increased technology and the shorter wor kin g hours required, the importance attached to work must be shifted from the notion that work has a value in it­self ..... the community seems to fearthe provision of adequate welf ar e lest jobs go wan tin g while desperately seeking to create new jobs, however socially w or thless or e c ol ogically destructive, asold ones d is appear ..... if the communitycan only absorb a certain number in the work force then it should allow some other groups to drop out. In particular, there may be some people who at some point in their life may want to opt out of the work force for a while. " I S

18. . A u s t r a l i a n C o u n c i l o f S o c i a l S e r v i c e , G u a r a n ­teed M i n i m u m In co m e . T o w a r d s the D e v e l o p m e n t o f a P o l i c y , A u g u s t , 1975.

- 1 3 7 -

The P overty Inquiry in its concern for the p r e ­s e rv at io n of the w o r k ethic and, presumably, in its concern for the political acce pt ab il it y of an income m a i n t e n a n c e scheme, has recommended a two- ti er ed s t ru c t u r e of income guarantees - a g u ar an te e for ' c a t e g o r i c a l 1 income units of 106% of the poverty line and of 6 2% for 1n o n - c a t e g o r i - cal' u n i t s . ^9 So that unemployed persons would not be placed in a more f avourable position than full-time w o r ke r s they would be assigned to the 1n o n - c a t e g o r i c a 1 1 level. Conditional upon passing a 'work-test' the unemployed could be brought up from 'their r egular min imum income payment' (i.e. 62% of the pov ert y line) 'to the pension rate' 1106% of the p o ve rt y line) 'so long as their p ri ­vate income remains n e g 1 i gi b 1e .'20 Unfair though it seems, the families of those bread wi nn er s who failed the 'work-test' would also be penalized financially. The stigma that c ur rently pertains to being on u n em p lo y me nt benefit would be trans- fered to 'n o n - c a t e g o r i c a 1 units' and traditional d i st in ct ion s b et we e n the ‘deserving poor' (e.g. aged persons) and the 'undeserving poor' (e.g, unem pl oy ed persons) would still persist under the new labels of 'categorical' and ' no n- ca te ­gor i c a 1 ' units.

The current survey shows that one of the major causes of financial hardship for the unemployed is the factor of a d m i n is t ra ti ve problems. It is a serious o mi s si o n from the report of the Poverty Inquiry that the method by which unem pl oy ed people would trans fe r from one c la ss if i c a t i o n to the other is not dealt with. The report does not make clear the means and basis for transfering to the higher g u ar ant ee d level. The position of the person w ho regularly works about three days per w e e k is also in doubt.

19. I b i d , p p . 75-87.

2 0 . I b i d , p . 7 9 .

- 1 3 8 -

If there Is a wkwardness about crossing from one cate go ry to the other then this may have impor­tant implications for the degree to which e l i ­gible persons take up their right to the higher income level. Unless the stigma of being on certain types of benefit is removed and a d ­m i n i s t r a t i v e procedures are made simple and clear then many people will be deterred from claiming their rights. T wo-thirds of the current survey sample with expe ri en ce of e a r ­lier unemployment had not always claimed u n e m ­ploy me nt benefit in spite of being eligible to do so. It is u nf or tun at e that although it a p ­pears sensible and a d va ntageous to eliminate all categorical d i st in ctions under a universal income m ai nt ena nc e scheme the Poverty Inquiry has recommended their retention.

#V /V ^ JU J. J. ^ X

It appears certain that serious consideration of income mainte na nc e schemes will continue to occur in w elfare and political circles. The First Main Report of the Poverty Inquiry has provided an impetus for such cons id er at io n by m aking the introduction of a guaranteed m i n i ­mum income scheme its major recommendation.The fear that in assuring people a minimum income many would stop working appears to be the principal (and perhaps the sole) barrier to its eventual public and political a c c e p t a ­bility. On the basis of the evidence that is a va ilable at the moment it would seem that work incentive is not a dv ersely affected by an in­come guarantee. Indeed, it may be argued that e co nom ic security is a prerequisite to e f f e c ­tive and sustained work activity.

- 1 3 9 -

A n d , as the Poverty Inquiry observes, even if the pr ovi si on of an income guarantee were to reduce work force p a rt i ci p a t i o n the switch by some people to a l te rna ti ve, unpaid w ork may c on st i tu t e no net loss to s o c i et y. 21

Despite its restricted impact in reducing r el a ­tive poverty a universal income mai nt en an ce scheme would be of substantial advantage in e l i m i na ti n g the extremes of e conomic d e p r i v a ­tion.

It is critical that the apparent p reoccupation with the effect of a guar anteed mini mu m income on w or k incentive does not narrow the focus to the extent that other g er ma ne issues such as a d mi n ist ra tio n, s t ig m ati za tion, exte ns iv en es s of relief provided, wage levels and conditions of work, go less s er io usl y questioned.

2 1 . Ib i d , s e e p.40.

- u o -

R EC OMMENDATIONS

Page No.

2.1 That the D epartment of Labor and Immigration co-operate fully with persons and o r g a n i s a ­tions in ende av ours to gather information on unemployment that has not a lready been collected by the D epartment and which may have relevance for its policy f or mu lat io ns* 7 - 8

2.2 That the Depa rt ment of Labourand Immigration carry out and/ or c om mission research that will elicit relevant b i o g r a p h i ­cal, social and economic data with regard to the unemployed and which will provide infor­mation that may be usefully referred to in formulating policy 8

3.3 That a s ta nd ardized procedure bee stablished between government d epartments for gathering and reporting statistics on the number of u nemployed persons 13

3 . k That c o m p re he n si ve statistics on unemployment, including info rm a­tion on the age, marital status, number of dependents, e d u c a t i o n ­al and occupational background of the unemployed, length of time on u ne mployment benefit, with rural/urban breakdowns, be gathered on a regular monthly basis 13

* P a g e r e f e r e n c e s to the r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s a r e p r o ­v i d e d o n l y as a g u i d e to the re a d e r . F o r a c o m ­p r e h e n s i v e u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f the b a s i s o f the r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s the r e p o r t s h o u l d be r e a d in f u l l .

- u i -

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

4. 1 0

5.11

That the 'waiting p e r i o d 1 for uneiji ployment benefit be made payable from the day of the person's unem ployment, or the day of r e g i s t r a ­tion with the C o mm onwealth Employ ment Service, w hi ch ev er is the l a t e r

That, as an interim measure while universal income m a i n ­tenance schemes are being c o n ­sidered for implementation, u n em p lo y me nt bene fits be raised above p overty line estimates as a matter of urgency

That u n em p lo y me nt benefits be regularly a d ju ste d to ensure that they remain above the poverty line

That u n e m p l o ym e nt benefit be paid acc ord in g to criteria of previous and intended work force p ar ti ci pa t io n, rather than marital status

That the Federal G ov er nm en t' s recent d ec is io n to freeze the unem plo ym ent benefit level in regard to persons under e i g h t ­een years of age be reversed

That provision be made for d e ­claring a m o r a t o r i u m on the hire purchase c o mm itments of unemployed persons and that the m o ra t o r i u m c on tinue to four weeks after the persons' return to work

That all surveys conducted by gove rnm en t d ep a rt m en ts be made readily, and publicly, ava i 1 a b 1e

Page No.

39-41

44

44-45

47

47

54

60- 66

— 142 -

5.12 That reports about the unemployedattempt to take account of the complexity of factors operating and seek to appreciate the p e r ­spective of the unemployed

6.13 That the National Employment andTraining s c he me operate more in favour of w or ke r s who desire training, rather than those desiring retraining

6.1^ That there be no constraints in regard to the age of trainees on the National Employment and Training sche me or to the length of the training period

6.15 That w h a t e v e r selection criteriaoperate in respect of the N a ­tional E m pl oym en t and Training scheme be made publicly a v a i l ­able

6.16 That a s t at u to r y requirement bee s ta b lis he d according to which employers must comprise 3% of their staff with disabled p e r ­sons

6.17 That i nformation about the N a ­tional E m pl oym en t and Training scheme be diss eminated in mu 11 i - 1 ingua 1 form at C o m m o n ­wealth E mp lo y me nt offices, post off ice s and other g o v e r n ­ment c entres

6.18 That, w i t h o u t reducing the n u m ­ber of a pp re nt i ce sh ip s a v a i l ­able to young people, the trade union movement approve the d ev e lo p me n t of a programof adult a pprent icesh i ps accor-d ing to w hi c h tra i nees be pa i da wage equi val en t to the Na-t i o n a 1 E m p 1oyment and Tra i n i nga 11o wance

Page No.

60-66

85

87

86

87

88-89

89

6 . 1 9

6 . 2 0

6.21

6 . 2 2

6.23

6 . 2i+

\

-1*»3-

That an increasing number of lan­guage classes for m igrants and for A u st r ali an s lacking literacy skills be e s t a b li s he d in f a c ­tories in a wide number of 1 oca 1 i t i es 90

Page N o .

That vocational guid ance and co mp r eh en s iv e career i n fo rm a­tion (including m an po we r p r o ­jections) be made a va il a b l e to all s c h o o 1 - c h i 1dren , starting in the late p rimary school years so as to help students with subject choice

That e xt ensive p ro vision be made for persons a p pr o aching s c h o o l ­leaving age to gain practical e x pe rie nc e in job s ituations

That ext ens iv e p ro vi sion be made within work s i tu ati on s for p e r ­sons who have joined the labour force at an early age to develop educational and o cc up ational s k i l l s

That job creation programs such as the Regional Empl oym ent and D e ­v el opment scheme be revived and expanded, e sp ec i al l y to help absorb persons who have recently left school into the labour mar- ke t

That job creation programs be e va luated so as to show which wo rke rs are employed under the scheme, the nature of the work projects, their u sefulness to the unem pl oye d and to the local community, the durat ion of jobs unde rt ak en and their area of ope ration

91-92

93

9*t

95

96

- n i t -

7 . 26

7-27

7 . 2 8

7-29

7.30

7-31

7 - 2 5

7 . 3 2

That the p ro cedure whereby a person may be 1 w or k- tested 1 be given in w ritten form to all unemployed people upon registering for unemployment benef i t

That persons who are 'work- tested' be given a written report o ut lining the reasons for the decision

That information about the right of appeal and appeals procedure be written in m u l t i ­lingual form and be clearly displayed at each Commonwealth Employment Service office

That all appeals be heard within fourteen days of being lodged

That the unemployed be informed of their right to travel vouchers when they are referred to a job by the Comm on wealth Employment Serv i ce

That the criteria according to which persons under sixteen years of age may be entitled to special benefit be made pub 1 i cly ava i 1a b 1e

That all Commonwealth Employment Service literature be printed in mu 1t i- 1 i n g u a 1 form and be clearly displayed at each office

That the Department of Labor and Immigration appoint a team of interpreters who could c i r c u ­late among C o mm onwealth E m p l o y ­ment Service offices

1 0 1 - 1 0 2

103

1 06

107

1 09

109-110

1 1 1

1 1 1

Page N o .

-1 *45-

7 - 3 3

7. 3*i

7.35

7-36

7.37

That a special e m er g en cy fund be est abl is hed for u nemployed p e r ­sons who require lump sum p a y ­ments in order to assist them in over co min g a cc om m od at io n problems and barriers to re- e m p 1oymen t

That the C o mm o nw e al th Employment Service prac tic e of making m u l ­tiple, s i mu lt ane ou s referrals to the one job be abandoned

That the C o m m o n w ea l th Employment S ervice issue the unemployed with a chit that may be p r e s e n ­ted for payment of benefit at the nearest D ep artment of Social Secur i ty office

That regularly up-dated lists of job vacancies, including details of pay and wor kin g conditions, be made a v ai l ab l e to the u n e m ­ployed through C om mo nw ea lt h E mployment Service offices

That the D epartment of Labor and Immigration e n co u ra ge and f i n a n ­cially support c o mm unity groups and individuals (especially u n ­employ ed persons) to experiment with projects aimed at i mprov­ing and e xp anding services to the unemployed

Page N o .

1 1 2

1 1 3-1 1 **

118

119

1 23

- 1 4 6 -

APPE NDI X A

s u r v e y q u e s t i o n n a i r e

Date :C.E.S. Office person

attends :Interviewer's name:

1 .

2.

3.

4.

5.

6 .

7.

8 .

9.

1 0 .

1 1 .

A g e :

S e x :

Nationality:

If not Australian born

How many years have you been in Australia?

What grade were you in when you left s c h o o l ?

Have you done any courses or job training since t hen?(give details)

How many weeks ago did you become u n e m p 1oyed?

How many weeks ago did you register with the C om mo nwealth Employment Se rv i ce ?

v « s □

N o |— [

Have you applied for Unemployment Benef i t?

If ' Y E S ', how long ago?

How many weeks after applying did you receive your first payment?

Have you e xperienced since in receiving

any difficulty paymen t s ?

Yes □

No □

Yes

No

Just A p p 1 i ed

4

□ □

□

- 1 4 7 -

11. ( c o n t 1d .)

If 'YES' g i ve brief deta i Is

12. What was your p re v io u s job?

13- Was i t a full- t i me job?

Yes □

No □

If N o t , state the number of daysper week ..... days

14. Are you looking for a full-timeor par t-t im e job now? Full

Part

15- How did you come to leave yourlast job? ...............(give brief details)

16. How much were you earning weekly in your previous job?(i) Regular wages (in pay packet)

(i i) Overt im e(iii) Other (e.g. tips, commission)

17- What do you c u rr en tl y receive in U n e m p l o ym e nt Benefit?

18. When you left your last job, did you receive any lump sum? (i)

(i) Holiday pay (i i ) S ev erance pay

(iii) Long s ervice leave (iv) Other (specify) ............

Yes □

No □

$'$

$

$

T i me [ (

T i me | 1

sI

-1 48-

19.

20 ,

Are you (i)( M )

U i i )(iv)

(v) (vT)

Single and living Single and living t i ves ?

Living with Living in a ship?

Separated or divorced? Other (specify) .......

i ndependen 1 1y ? with r e 1 a -

w i fe/husband ? de facto relation-

Dependent children?(i) Number of children under 16

years ..........................(ii) Number of children over 16

at home ...................... .

I f there are children 16+ at home:(iii) Are they e m p 1o y e d / u n e m p 1o y e d ,

receiving unemployment b e n e ­fit, contributing to family finances? (Give brief de- ta i Is)

21

2 2 ,

(If there are dependent c h i l d r e n )

nHow much do you receive payments ?

child endowment$ .... week 1y

If living with s p o u s e :

Does your w i f e / h us ba nd usually work? Yes □

No □

If 1 Y E S 1 , state w eekly earnings $ .... weekly

If spouse usually works and is currently unemployed,l a s t j o b :

23a. Do you pay:li)

H i )

state week 1y ea rn i[ ngs in $ ....

Rent on a house? Yes

No

Amount per week Rent on a flat?

$ ....Yes

Amount per week $ ....No

S :6V

- 1 k s -

2 3 a . ( c o n t 1d . )U i i) Rent to

Housing Commission?Yes

Amount per week$ ....

No

(iv) Home purchase payments ? Yes

j$

Amount per week$ ----

No

i (v) Other a c c o m m o ­dation costs? Yes

«I%

Amount per week? ‘....

No

a\,4

(spec i f y )

i

\ b . Are you able ments up to

to keep these pay- date? Yes

No

(If ' N O 1 , give brief details of arrears, evic tio n threats, etc.)

24a. Do you have any hire purchasec om mi tm e nt s? Yes

b. (If ' Y E S ') what is the total amount each week? $ . . .

- 1 5 0 -

c. L i s t : Maj or I terns and Cost per Week

................................ §

............................. $

............................ $

25. Have you been able to keep hire p u r ­chase payments up to date? Yes

No

N/A

(If ' N O ', give details of arrears, repossession orders, etc.)

26. Do you have any other major f i n a n ­cial c om mi tme nt s at present? ^e.g. m ai nt ena nc e payments, medical e x ­penses , e t c . )

Yes

No

(If 'YES', give brief details)

27. Do you have a bank account?

A m o u n t : $ Yes

No

Have you ever been unem ployed before? Yes

( If ' Y E S ' )(i) How many times in the past

12 months? .....

(iij How long were these periods of u n em p loy me nt? .

1st occa sio n .............

2nd occasion .............

3rd occasion .............

Have you ever been u n em ployed and not applied for U n em p lo y me nt B e n e ­fit, even though you thought you were probably entit le d to it?

(If 1 YES 1)

(i) On how many o cc asipns

(ii) Total number of weeks i n v o 1ved

(iii) Reason for not applying:

In this period of u n em pl oyment o n l y , have you been referred to jobs by -

(i) C om mo nw e al th Employment Service

(ii) Private E mp loyment A g e n ­cies

(iii) S e 1f - r e f e r r a 1s (arising out of n ew spaper ads, information from friends, e t c . )

No

times

weeks

weeks

weeks

Yes

No

N/A

times

weeks

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

- 1 5 2 -

31. (If 1 Y E S 1 to any of Q . 3 0 )

Brief Job Descri pt io n Referred by R e s u 1t

1 ....................

2 ..................

3 ....................

A .............. ,----

5 ......................

6 ................

7 ..................

8 ................

9 .....................

10..................

32. (If 'YES' to any section of Q.31)

Have the jobs that you have applied for Yesdiffered from your last j ob very much?

No

(If 'YES' to any of (i) give brief details

to ( i i i) below, N/A

(i) Financially Yes

No

N/A

(. i i ) Type of Job Yes

No

N/A

3 2 . ( c o n t ' d . ) - 1 5 3 -

(iii; Other (e.g. location, physical Yesaspects of the job, etc.)

................................... No

.................................................. N/A

33- Do you own a motor v ehicle in running Yesorder?

No

3**. What sort of job do you want to do?

35- Have you heard of the National Em- Yesployment and T r ai nin g Scheme

No

(If 1 Y E S 1 ) w he r e did you hear about it?

36. Would you want to u nd er take a training Yes course for any p a rt icu lar sort of job if an o p po r t u n i t y exis ted? No

(If 1 Y E S 1 , give brief details)

37- How would you rate the attitude of the staff at the C o mm o nw e al th Employment Service on this scale?

Don 1t Try toTry Hard to Help Help at all

1 T 3 5 5

3 8 . Have you received any help from any social work agen cie s or friends since you became unemployed? (give brief details)

Yes

No

- 1 5 4 -

39.

40 .

How did you come to agree to this inter­view?

Are there any other ways that you have been affected by unemployment that we haven't already talked about?

- 1 5 5 -

APPENDI X B

SUMMARY OF EMPL OYM EN T RESOURCE AND INFORMATIONC E N T R E :

A proposal to e st ab lis h an Employment Resource and Information Centre has recently been s u b ­mitted by the Brothe rh oo d of St Laurence to the Department of Labor S Immigration in the hope that funding may be forthcoming. The proposal seeks to s up plement the a ctivities and services of the C om mo n we al t h Empl oyment Service and to en ha nc e u nemployed persons' o p po rt un it ie s for self-help. Its f unctioning would be evaluated so as to p rovide g uidelines for future policy initiatives. It would be staffed by people who are c ur rently unemployed. The staff would:

* Organize w o rk sh op s on applying forjobs and interviews.

* Organize disc us sio n groups in anattempt to identify the d i f f i c u l ­ties of the unemployed.

*' Provide a free telephone servicethrough which the unem pl oy ed could contact employers.

* D i s s e mi n at e mu 11 i- 1 i n g u a 1 i n f o r m a ­tion on the rights of the unemployed.

* Assist the unem plo ye d in meet in g needsthat are not dire ctly the concern of the C o mm onw ea lth E mployment Service, for example, the u nem pl oy ed person who would like to do clerical work but has no suit abl e clothing.

* Provide information on the range anda v a i l a b il i ty of training courses.

- 1 5 6 -

Because of the costs involved and the e x p e r i ­mental nature of the service, it is envisaged that a single centre would be established that could serve the inner urban region. The c e n ­tral aim would be to provide the unemployed with c o mp r ehe ns ive information and resources so as to a ll eviate their e m p 1o y m e n t - re 1 ated problems and to heighten their chances of returning to the work force.

- 1 57-

BIB L I O GRAPHY

APPLEYARD, R.T., I m m i g r a t i o n : Policy and P r o g r e s s ,A u s t ra l ia n Institute of Political Science, Canberra, February, 1971.

A U S T RA LI A N COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE, Guaranteed M ini m um Income: Towards the Development of aPol i c y , August, 1975.

A U ST RA LIA N COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS, Survey of Young Workers, Research Report submitted to Australian Government C ommission of Inquiry into P o v e r t y , A u st ra li an Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1975.

A U S T RA LI A N D E PA RTM EN T OF LABOUR, Aust ra li an Labour Market Training, Report of the Committee of In­quiry into Labour Market T r a i n i n g , A ustralian G overnment P ublishing Service, Canberra, March, 1 9 7 k .

A U S TR A LI AN GOVE RNM EN T COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO POVERTY. Poverty in Australia: An Outlineof the First Main Report of the C o m m i s s i o n , April, 1975, Aust ral ia n G overnment Publishing Service, Canberra, 1975-

A U S TR A LI AN G O VE RNM EN T C OM MISSION OF INQUIRY INTO POVERTY, Poverty in Australia: Interim R e ­p o r t , A us tr a li a n Government Publishing Service, Canberra, March, 197^.

BUILDING AND PLANNING D EP AR TM EN T OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Proposals for Action on Finance for Housing, United Nations Publica- t i on E 731V. k , 1 972.

BYWATER, M., Leaving Their Schools - For What? European C o m m u n i t y ,N o . 10, October, 1973-

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C ENTRAL OFFICE OF INFORMATION, London, Rehab i1 i ta- tion and Care of the Disabled in B r i t a i n ,L o n d o n , 1 9 6 9.

CITIES COMMISSION, Employment in Geeiong, June,1 975.

DEPAR TM EN T OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND, Rural Poverty in Northern N . S . W ; Research Report for the Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into P o v e r t y , Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 197**.

GOODWIN, Leonard, Do The Poor Want to W o r k ? A Socia 1-Psycho 1o g i c a 1 Study of Work O r i e n t a ­tions, The Brookings Institution, Washington,1 972.

GRIFFITHS, David, Emergency R e l i e f : A reportprepared for the Social Welfare Commission by David Griffiths of the Brotherhood of St Laurence with recommendations by the Social Welfare Commission, Queanbeyan, N . S . W . ,Social W elfare Commission, 1975-

GRIFFITHS, David, Unemployment: The Facts andE f f e c t s , A Social Action Study by the B r o th er ­hood of St Laurence, Melbourne, November, 1972.

HENDERSON, Ronald F; HARCOURT, A: HARPER, R.J.A.,People in Poverty: A Melbourne S u r v e y , R e ­printed, with supplement, Cheshire, Melbourne,1 975.

HILL, M.J: HARRISON, R: SARGEANT, A. and TALBOT,V ., Men out of Work: A Study of Unemploymentin Three English T o w n s , Cambridge University Press, 1975.

HUGHES, Bill, The Social Security Appeals System, Social Security Q u a r t e r l y , Autumn 1975-

IMMIGRATION ADVISORY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY RELATIONS, Interim Report, August, 19 7 ̂ » C an ­berra, 1 9 7 1* •

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JAHODA, M; LAZARSFELD, P. £ ZEISAL, H., Mar i e n t h a l : The S o ci o gra ph y of an Unemployed C o m m u n i t y , A 1 - dine Athe rto n Inc., Chicago, 1971*

JORDAN, A ., L on g- T er m U n em ployed People under C o n ­ditions of Full E m p l o y m e n t , A ustralian G o v e r n ­ment C ommission of Inquiry into Poverty, C a n ­berra, 1975-

LIFFMAN, M., The Family Centre Project: Second O v e r ­v i e w , Brothe rh oo d of St Laurence (i n p r i n t ) .

MACAROV, D., Incentives to W o r k , Jossey-Bass Inc.,San Francisco, 1970.

MESSER, E.A., T h ir t y- E ig ht Years is a Plenty, Civil Service J o u r n a l , O c t o b e r / D e c e m b e r , 1964, 2k

MILLER, H.P. Rich Man, Poor Man, Cromwell, New York, 1964.

OFFI CI AL YEAR BOOK OF THE COMMONWEALTH,. 1972.

P RI ORITIES REVIEW STAFF, A ss i s t a n c e for Structural A dj us tm en t, Income Main tenance, E t c ., Australian G ov ernment Publishing Service, Canberra, August, 1975.

RADFORD, W.C., Education in A us tralia for Personal and National D evelopment in The Forum of E d u c a t i o n , Vo 1. 25, No. 1, 1 966.

REIN, M., W or k Incentives and W e l fa re Reform in Britain and the United States in STEIN, B. £MILLER, S.M. (ed.) Incentives £ Planning in Social P o l i c y , Aldine, Chicago, 1973- * 1

REPORT TO THE PRIME M IN IS TE R BY THE COMMITTEE TO ADVISE ON POLICIES FOR M AN UF AC T U R I N G INDUSTRY, Policies for Develo pm en t of Manu fa ct ur in g In- dustry, Vol. 1, A Green Paper, Canberra, October,1 975-

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RYAN, William, Blaming the V i c t i m , Random House,York, 1971.

SALMON, Jan, Resources for Poor Families: AnExperimental Income Supplement S c h e m e . R e ­search Report submitted to the Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into P o ­verty, A u st ral ia n Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 197^.

SHEPPARD, Harold L. & BELITSKY, A .H . The Job H u n t : Job Seeking Behaviour of Unemployed Workers in a Local E c o n o m y , John Hopkins Press, Baltimore,1 966.

S T 0 R E R , D . , Italians in Australia: A Social O v e r ­v i e w , February, 1975.

SWEDISH INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES, Fact Sheets on Sweden: Active M a n ­power Policy in Sweden. Making Labour Markets Work - A Comparison of the U.K. and Swedish S y s ­tems . July, 1970.

TINNEY, Margaret; BENN, Concetta & O'NEILL, Judith, The Luck of the Game: A Study of School Leaversin a M e lb ou rn e Inner Suburban S c h o o l , Brotherhood of St L a u r e n c e , D e c e m b e r , 197^*.

UNITED STATES D EPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE, New Jersey Graduated Work Incentive Experiment: A Social Experiment in NegativeTaxation. Summary Report sponsored by the Office of Economic O p p o r t u n i t y , December, 1973-

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B RO THE RH OO D OF ST LAURENCE PUBLICATIONS:

1971 Two Worlds Brotherhood of St L a u r ­ence, Stockland.School and the migrant fam i 1y .

1972 The Have Nots Judith O'Neill and Rosemary Nairn, B r o t h e r ­hood of St Laurence.A study of 150 low in­come fam i1 i e s .

1972 U n e m p 1o y m e n t : The Facts and Effect s

David Griffiths, Brother hood of St Laurence.

1974 Why So Harsh on the U ne mp loy ed ?

B rotherhood of St L a u r ­ence.

1974 The Luck of the Game

Margaret Tinney, Con- cetta Benn and JudithO'Neill, Brotherhood of St Laurence. A study of school leavers in a Melbourne inner suburban school.

1975 Cost-RentalHous i ng A s s o - c i at i on s

1975 ••• Just theBeg inning

David Scott, B r o t h e r ­hood of St Laurence,A new initiative to meet housing need.

Rosemary Dargaville, Brotherhood of St L a u ­rence. The origins and development of the B ro th erhood's a c c o m m o ­dation for elderly p e o p 1e .

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1975 Claimants or Submission to theCl i ent s ? Royal Commission on

A ustralian Government Adm i n i st rat i o n . Brotherhood of St L a u r e n c e .

Family Day CareProgress Reports 1-3. Barbara Spalding.

Research Report Home Away From H o m e ?A study of three Family Day Care Programs.Phyllis Tinney.December , 1 975-

Family Centre Proj ectProgress Reports 1-5. Concetta Benn.

Research Reports The Family Centre P r o j e c t :A First Ove rv i e w .Michael Liffman, July, 197**.

The No-Collar Workers A study of the work p a t ­terns of members of the Family Centre. Jan Salmon August, 1975-

The Family Centre P r o j e c t : A Second O v e r v i e w .Michael L i f fma n ,D e c e m b e r , 1975-

Discussion Boots and B o o t s t r a p s .Papers A discussion paper on

some aspects of poverty. Michael Liffman, 1975-

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F a m i 1y Centre Nowhere To Go and AllProject Me Life to Get ThereDiscussion A study of adoles-Papers cents in the F a m i 1y( c o n t ' d . ) Centre.

1975.John M o w a t ,

Material Need in anAffluent Soc i etyGlen A1de rson and Mi c h a e 1 W h e e l e r , May, 1975-