Hon Louise Upston
Minister for Social Development and Employment

The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months.

“There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job is working,” Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says.

“Despite the tough labour market we inherited, 33,147 people cancelled their Jobseeker benefit because they found work between July and December. That’s 22 per cent more than the same period in 2023 under the previous government’s welfare system.

“This increase in work exits coincided with a 126 per cent increase in the number of benefit sanctions issued in the second half of last year.

“Our focus is on young job seekers because they are at greater risk of staying on benefit long-term. Under the last government, the forecast for how long someone under 25 would be on a benefit over their lifetime blew out to more than 20 years.

“In our first year, we delivered:

• 10,000 more job seekers in case management
• 2100 more places for young people to get community-led job coaching
• A Traffic Light System to help job seekers understand and comply with their benefit obligations
• More regular work seminars to support job searches
• More comprehensive needs assessments for up to 70,000 job seekers
• Personalised job plans to help job seekers overcome the challenges holding them back from finding work
• ‘Beneficiaries-First’ targets for Flexi-wage and Mana in Mahi

“Unemployment is always one of the last things to improve after a recession, so we know there is much more work ahead to support people into jobs as our economy recovers from a prolonged cost-of-living crisis.

“This year, we will introduce more changes to help keep job seekers on the path to finding work if they're able, including new non-financial sanctions and only granting Jobseeker Support for six months at a time.

“These changes will help achieve our target of 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support by 2030, which is forecast to save $2.3 billion in welfare payments.

“It’s also encouraging to see that supporting families out of emergency housing is not only paying off for them, but also taxpayers, with the spend on emergency housing grants reducing by $68 million compared to the December 2023 quarter.”

Notes:

• Benefit stats for the December quarter can be found here

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