Why thousands of Melbourne workers could miss out on desperately needed JobKeeper payments - as it's revealed stage four lockdown will cost $14B
- Thousands of Melbourne workers may be ineligible for JobKeeper payments
- Businesses must have 30 to 50 per cent crash in turnover to meet the criteria
- This means some larger national companies have been locked out of the benefit
- 25,000 staff across Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and Target to be stood down
- Without JobKeeper, they will be forced to go on the unemployment payment
- Employers and businesses are calling on the government to change the criteria
Thousands of Melbourne workers could miss out on much-needed JobKeeper payments because their employees will be ineligible.
The stage four lockdown that came into effect across the city on Sunday has stopped economic activity in its tracks, with millions of Victorians ordered to stay home for the next six weeks.
AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver predicts the shutdown could cost the state $14billion and have a ripple effect on the national economy in three months to September, the Herald Sun reports.
Thousands of Victoria workers are set to be stood down as JobKeeper requirements lock national companies out of the payment scheme. An employee is pictured wiping down an eftpos machine in a Collingwood Coles store in April
As companies close their doors and shed staff, tens of thousands of employees will be forced to go on unemployment benefit JobSeeker - worth almost $400 less a fortnight than the JobKeeper subsidy.
Businesses can only access JobKeeper, a $1500 fortnightly subsidy paid to keep staff on the books, if their turnover has crashed by at least 30 per cent, or 50 per cent for businesses turning over more than $1billion a year.
The criteria has locked out some of the biggest national companies, which will not meet the threshold because their stores in other states continue to operate as normal.
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This is the case for Australian conglomerate company Wesfarmers, which employs 25,000 workers across Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and Target in Victoria.
Managing director Rob Scott said many of those staff members will be stood down, and would receive two weeks' pay.
After that, Mr Scott said workers would 'need to look at what government subsidies are available'.
'We will be doing everything we can to keep particularly our permanent team members on board,' he told the ABC.
Employers and business groups are calling for the federal government to change the JobKeeper requirements and for the state government to refine its business restrictions.
Wesfarmers Managing Director Rob Scott has warned many of the company's 25,000 workers in Victoria will lose their jobs, and be forced onto JobSeeker payments as the conglomerate does not fulfil the JobKeeper criteria. He is pictured speaking at the Wesfarmer 2018 annual general meeting in Perth
A woman wearing a facemask is seen crossing the road as a large group of police are seen patrolling the streets just hours before the stage four lockdown came into effect on Sunday night
'The Victorian economy is going to go into a coma and a lot of businesses going into a coma are not going to wake up,' Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told The Australian.
'We are going to see mass unemployment, we are going to see a lot of insolvency, a lot of business closures. Victoria went through the worst of the early 1990s recession. This is a different scenario but the outcome will probably be worse.'
The federal government has maintained the requirements for JobKeeper remain the most fair and effective way to manage the scheme.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday said he was open to easing the eligibility criteria.
On Tuesday night, he met with business groups to discuss the support they needed and problems they face amid the crisis.
It is understood the federal government believes national businesses are better equipped to handle localised restrictions.
Unions have also called for JobKeeper to be kept at current levels for Victorian workers beyond September, when it is set to drop from $1500, to $1200.
The second phase of JobKeeper will begin on September 28.
Melburnians have been ordered to remain at home for the next six weeks as the city grapples with a horror rise in COVID-19 cases. A couple wearing facemasks walk as they look at their phones in the CBD during the last hours before the stage four lockdown commenced
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