The rhetoric of welfare 'tough love'

In the context of this skills gap however, it is not obvious how coercive measures that supposedly force unskilled people from disadvantaged backgrounds to try even harder is going to solve our labour market problems. Furthermore, when we put the issue of the skills gap to one side and listen to the evidence about the experiences of those on income support who have been consistently knocked back from jobs for which they have skills and capability another important factor clearly emerges.

The biggest barrier is not the reluctance of people to work. It is the reluctance of employers to take the 'risk' of employing them. This is the reason why this ‘tough love’ rhetoric is so counter-productive. Reinforcing these stereotypes and building up the myths about the unemployed inevitably strengthens the negative attitudes that employers hold towards them.

A survey of employers undertaken by the Department of Employment and Workplace relations in 2008 found widespread reluctance to consider employing long term unemployed people, people with disabilities, and mature age people. This is a significant barrier that the government should be taking measures to address, rather than strengthen.

Employers are risk adverse and weigh up the options and assess the risks before employing someone. This is where government programs that offer information and support, offer on the job training, mentoring for both the employee and the employer, and offer wage subsidies can have a much more positive impact on outcomes that the types of disconnected training courses we’ve seen in the past.

However the task of these employer outreach programs is made so much harder when they are being framed within a wider narrative that says these people are lazy and reluctant to work. We need employers to be weighing up the real issues when they consider these new opportunities, not paying undue attention to rhetorical ones.

By cutting payments, forcing people to participate in yet more interviews or meaningless training and by threatening them with starvation the Government perpetuates the view that the unemployed are reluctant to do anything unless they are coerced into it.

In the face of that strong, negative message, it is a little hard to see what level of success new initiatives for industry liaison and support programs are going to have.

Some little known welfare facts:

- 56% of DSP recipients and 32% of NSA recipients are over 45 years old

- Fastest growing DSP categories are mental illnesses 28% and intellectual disabilities 11%

- 85% of single parent pensioners are over 25yo, only 2-3% teenage mums

- 31% are already employed (mostly part-time) despite 60% have a preschool child