They talk about the UK, they mention Denmark and the Netherlands - but Australia is also doing something similar. Our government put in a scheme whereby they pay employers to keep employees in...
They talk about the UK, they mention Denmark and the Netherlands - but Australia is also doing something similar. Our government put in a scheme whereby they pay employers to keep employees in employment. They talk about "keeping employees connected to employers". Apart from some controversy about who's included - and, more importantly, who isn't - the scheme is working as intended. A lot of employees are staying "employed" even if their business is closed for the duration. We're still seeing high unemployment, but not as high as it would be without this employment subsidy.
Beyond that, it also helps keep cash flowing. No big rush at whoever is dishing out unemployment benefits. Everyone gets paid on time, even if the paycheck is smaller. Particularly in the US, that...
Beyond that, it also helps keep cash flowing. No big rush at whoever is dishing out unemployment benefits. Everyone gets paid on time, even if the paycheck is smaller. Particularly in the US, that would help a lot. Unemployment benefits are coming in too late for those living paycheck to paycheck.
Our unemployment figures are calculated monthly, and there's about a 2-week delay after the end of each month before they're released. So "Unemployment rises to 5.2 per cent in March but full...
Unemployment is forecast to reach 10 per cent by the middle of year and then slowly improve. By the end of 2020, the Reserve Bank of Australia is predicting the jobless rate to still be at 9 per cent.
So, our peak unemployment will still be lower than the USA's current figure.
IMO the Federal government has actually been surprisingly quick (and bipartisan) in responding to the crisis, and their Economic Response Plan seems solid enough, to my layman's eyes anyways. They...
IMO the Federal government has actually been surprisingly quick (and bipartisan) in responding to the crisis, and their Economic Response Plan seems solid enough, to my layman's eyes anyways. They have even been rather quick in filling the gaps in the original plan, e.g. by rapidly creating the Canada Emergency Student Benefit program, when it was pointed out that many Students were excluded from the Emergency Wage Subsidy and Response Benefit.
Now, whether all that will be enough, will be implemented fast enough, and last long enough, to stave off economic disaster is anyone's guess and I am certainly not an expert there. However my sister, who is self-employed but currently unable to work at all right now (and potentially for the forseeable future), due to her job requiring significant amounts of travel and physical interaction with her clients and their children, managed to sign up for the CERB on the same day it went live (Mar 15 IIRC), and received her first benefit payment within a few days... so that's a pretty positive indication, IMO.
Heck, even the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford (who I loathe), has been handling everything surprising well, actually seems to be doing a really good job so far, and is clearly listening to the experts... so I am actually surprisingly optimistic about things here.
They talk about the UK, they mention Denmark and the Netherlands - but Australia is also doing something similar. Our government put in a scheme whereby they pay employers to keep employees in employment. They talk about "keeping employees connected to employers". Apart from some controversy about who's included - and, more importantly, who isn't - the scheme is working as intended. A lot of employees are staying "employed" even if their business is closed for the duration. We're still seeing high unemployment, but not as high as it would be without this employment subsidy.
Beyond that, it also helps keep cash flowing. No big rush at whoever is dishing out unemployment benefits. Everyone gets paid on time, even if the paycheck is smaller. Particularly in the US, that would help a lot. Unemployment benefits are coming in too late for those living paycheck to paycheck.
Whats the percentage in AU? The US is currently at about 16% and still increasing. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/07/851320519/3-2-million-more-are-out-of-work-as-jobless-claims-keep-piling-up
Our unemployment figures are calculated monthly, and there's about a 2-week delay after the end of each month before they're released. So "Unemployment rises to 5.2 per cent in March but full impact of coronavirus yet to show." We don't have the April figures yet.
This article came out today:
So, our peak unemployment will still be lower than the USA's current figure.
IMO the Federal government has actually been surprisingly quick (and bipartisan) in responding to the crisis, and their Economic Response Plan seems solid enough, to my layman's eyes anyways. They have even been rather quick in filling the gaps in the original plan, e.g. by rapidly creating the Canada Emergency Student Benefit program, when it was pointed out that many Students were excluded from the Emergency Wage Subsidy and Response Benefit.
Now, whether all that will be enough, will be implemented fast enough, and last long enough, to stave off economic disaster is anyone's guess and I am certainly not an expert there. However my sister, who is self-employed but currently unable to work at all right now (and potentially for the forseeable future), due to her job requiring significant amounts of travel and physical interaction with her clients and their children, managed to sign up for the CERB on the same day it went live (Mar 15 IIRC), and received her first benefit payment within a few days... so that's a pretty positive indication, IMO.
Heck, even the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford (who I loathe), has been handling everything surprising well, actually seems to be doing a really good job so far, and is clearly listening to the experts... so I am actually surprisingly optimistic about things here.
I can't speak to any mass layoffs, since I don't follow economic news as much as I probably should. StatCan has unemployment listed as being up by 2.2% from Feb - Mar though, so it's clearly going up, but apparently not at anywhere near the same rate as the US.