How does the Turnbull Government’s proposed ‘Youth Jobs PaTH (Prepare-Trial-Hire) Programme’ measure up?
Of course Australians want to support our young people to transition from welfare to work. However, employment programs funded by hard-working taxpayers must have safeguards to protect:
- The young employees involved,
- The existing workforce and their wages; and
- The interests of the broader community.
The PaTH scheme proposed in the Turnbull Government’s May Budget appears not to have been properly thought through, and risks creating a pool of cheap labour that is a road to nowhere for the young people involved. We know from the 7-Eleven scandal that some employers are prepared to exploit young workers on a grand scale.
Key aspects of the proposed PaTH scheme unveiled in the May 2016 Budget include:
A $1,000 Internships would be of 4-12 weeks duration for 15-25 hours work per week;
Any PaTH internship payment would be in addition to any existing income support (e.g. Newstart Allowance - currently $527.60 per fortnight or $263.80 per week);
A PaTH incentive to employers putting on a PaTH intern;
Intern working 25 hours per week would receive an extra $100 ($4 per hour) (e.g. a Newstart $263.80 + $100 = $363.80 or $14.55 per hour);
The Retail Award minimum rate for a 20-yearold casual is currently $23.73 per hour.
On these figures, we can do the following comparison for a 20-year-old casual:
- 25 hours in a store on the Retail Award @ $23.73 per hour: $593.25
- 25 hours in a store on a PaTH internship @ $14.55 per hour: $363.75
- Amount per week below the Retail Award minimum: $229.50
So the PaTH intern would receive $229.50 less for a week’s work than under the Award, while the retail employer would receive 25 hours of labour fully funded by the Australian taxpayer.
A poor outcome for young Australians and all taxpayers.
QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS
But the problems don’t stop with the rates of pay. The Turnbull Government also needs to address other critical questions such as:
- What stops an employer terminating the PaTH intern after 12 weeks and simply replacing them with another taxpayer-funded intern?
- What stops an employer replacing their existing Award rate casuals with a taxpayer funded PaTH intern?
- Would PaTH interns have industrial rights under the Fair Work Act, or not?
- Why isn’t this program monitored by vocational institutions as would be the case with vocational internships?
PaTH without safeguards would allow Award-paid employees, particularly casuals, to be replaced by taxpayer-funded interns, thereby lowering wages yet not reducing unemployment at all.
It is important to support young people transitioning to work, but the end result must be real jobs with fair rates of pay.
A scheme without proper safeguards is an invitation to exploit young workers.
A simple ‘trust us’ is not good enough, particularly from a Government whose silence on 7- Eleven student exploitation has been deafening.
The PaTH internship program as proposed by the Turnbull Government just doesn’t measure up for young Australians, taxpayers or the broader community.
DID YOU KNOW...
ABS figures as at March 2016 had 737,300 Australians looking for work while job vacancies totalled 172,900 – that is more than four unemployed people for every vacancy