Treasurer Jim Chalmers is tipped to announce an increase in JobSeeker payments for people over the age of 55 in the budget, with Chalmers saying that this age group finds it hard to get a new job, even when unemployment is just 3.5%.
However, analysis undertaken by e61 Institute research director Gianni La Cava has found that JobSeeker recipients aged between 22 and 54 are 2.5 times more likely to be financial stressed than recipients aged over 55, while young, single women on JobSeeker are more financially stressed than any other cohort.
La Cava’s analysis covered the period from 2001 to 2021, and was based on measures of stress from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.
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