Fed: Unemployed should get paid work experience: ACOSS
15 Jan 2009 1:33 PM
CANBERRA, Jan 15 AAP - People on the dole should have access to work experience paid at a training level wage, the nation's peak welfare group says.
Unemployment benefits should also be increased by $30 a week to $255, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says.
ACOSS wants the federal government to adopt the two measures in this year's federal budget.
Presently, the unemployment benefit - known as the Newstart Allowance - for a single person is $50 a week less than the aged pension.
People who undertake work experience receive the benefit as payment, unless an alternative arrangement is made with an employer.
Work experience should be paid at a training level and offered for six months, ACOSS says.
The scheme would keep people engaged with the workforce at a time when more people were finding themselves out of work, CEO Clare Martin said.
Boosting the benefit would also prevent people from sliding into poverty.
"We need to ensure people without jobs can afford to live and support their families while looking for work."
The latest labour force figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics - released on Thursday - show the overall jobless rate rose slightly to 4.5 per cent.
