Study finds work for the dole trial led to just 2 per cent increase in job placements
Updated
A study commissioned by the Federal Government has found its work for the dole trial led to just a 2 per cent increase in job placements.
The study by The Social Research Centre also reported that only 2 per cent of people who participated in the trial moved off welfare payments over the period.
Despite including the statistics, the report's authors have said it "has not been possible" to identify post-trial outcomes because of the short (four-month) evaluation period.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash's media release about the trial does not mention how many people actually got jobs after the one-year program, instead focusing on how it made participants feel.
"The programme was effective in helping participants gain confidence and self-esteem and learn skills such as team work, communication and appropriate workplace behaviour," Senator Cash's release said.
"It's also pleasing to note that host organisations, many of them community groups and charities, saw Work for the Dole as an opportunity to undertake activities and complete tasks they would otherwise not have the resources to do."
The report found a 7 per cent increase in the reporting of part-time or casual work to job service providers, but noted part of the increase could be attributed to the reporting of previously unreported part-time work.
It concluded that many job providers were frustrated by job seekers not turning up to their work for the dole activities, absences caused by illness and paperwork delays, including with police checks.
Some job providers and job seekers reported that the work for the dole opportunities were in a narrow field, including charity shop work and gardening.
The report also found job seekers who had not finished Year 12 were significantly less likely to be referred to work experience, and if they were referred, they were less likely to start the activity, compared to Year 12 graduates.
The report said this suggested it was harder to place long-term unemployed job seekers with low levels of education in any type of pre-work activity.
Indigenous Australians were also less likely to be referred to and commence pre-work or work for the dole activities.
The Government's new permanent work for the dole program started in July.
In a statement provided to the ABC this afternoon, a spokesman for Senator Cash said:
Work for the Dole had a small but statistically significant impact upon job placements and moving off income support. It is estimated that in the short-term Work for the Dole resulted in an additional 2 percentage point increase in the probability of job seekers having a job placement.
In addition, we already know from previous evaluations that WftD does help participants gain employment.
But it should be remembered that the Department commissioned the evaluation for the purpose of informing the design of the Work for the Dole programme for its national roll-out under jobactive from 1 July 2015.
The Department will continue to work with industry and stakeholders to undertake further research and evaluation on the outcomes of the 2015-2020 programme.
Work for the Dole being primarily designed to help people get skills, means that it is difficult to attribute an employment outcome to participation in the programme.
This question is also more complicated because some people leave WftD early to take up a job while others complete the programme and then go on to get work.
But it must be remembered that there are multiple factors affecting job seeker employment, including labour market conditions and personal circumstances.
Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, welfare, australia
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