The latest unemployment stats have shown that almost 600,000 jobs have been lost due to coronavirus – with the youth unemployment rate more than DOUBLE the national average of 6.2%, at 13.8%.
Scott Morrison has given a presser on the unemployment rates coming out of our corona-ravaged society, and to no one’s surprised he doesn’t say much outside of the usual waffle and ‘Australian values’ bullshit he typically spouts.
Had the labour force not fallen by 490k people in April – the unemployment rate would have jumped to 9.6% rather than the official jump to 6.2%.
— Callam Pickering (@CallamPickering) May 14, 2020
Youth Unemployment Is High As Ever, And There Seems To Be No Real Plan To Fix It
Despite being asked a myriad of questions on JobKeeper, youth unemployment rates and the fact that the Australian public has been pretty fucked over jobs-wise, Scomo continuously spouted long, waffling statements about how we are “all in this together”, and the importance of “Australian values”, ironically including ‘transparency’ as a key Australian trait.
The rise in the Underemployment Rate is the real story. pic.twitter.com/0GxCEcTAOr
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) May 14, 2020
How are we “all in this together” when Scott Morrison’s salary is more than half a million dollars? Or that our government just offered $3 billion to private schools, without giving public schools a second thought?
Speaking of schools, apparently reopening schools was part of Scott Morrison’s plans to target youth unemployment. How those two correlate at all, I have no idea. Scott Morrison wasn’t very transparent about that either.
“And so the task and the message I have for those young people is that’s why I have been so forward leaning, whether it has been the reopening of schools which has been on Treasury’s advice. One of the most key areas to unlock and reopen our economy,“he said.
While I can see the relationship between schools being open and parent’s abilities to work, I don’t see how this relates to youth unemployment, which has been incredibly high and stagnant since before coronavirus. Youth unemployment refers to 15-24 year olds, who I don’t think are as impacted by schools being closed as Scott Morrison implies.
I’m sorry but how does Scott Morrison get away with ‘disagreeing’ with actual FACTS? You can’t disagree with factual info, that’s not how it works. The deflection and aggression is fucking gross, and it’s not lost on me that he behaved more aggressively to a female journalist https://t.co/W4Qcbm6uCn
— Soaliha ✨ (@Soaliha_) May 14, 2020
Journo Shalailah Medhora from Triple J called out the fact that youth unemployment has been stagnant with no improvement despite government programs such as Jobs Path, but Scott Morrison just… didn’t answer her?
“I don’t agree with the premise in your question, I mean the premise of the facts of your question that just simply not right,” he said, before refusing to answer her.
The thing is… she’s literally right. It’s a fact that youth unemployment has been much higher than the national average for years – last year it was over 12%, which is still double the current national unemployment rate (and this rate itself is higher because of coronavirus).
If ignoring facts is an Australian value, then Scomo is nailing that one.
JobKeeper
Scott Morrison said that stimulus plans (including JobSeeker and JobKeeper) will be reviewed in June, and depending on how the economy is at the time, they may be stopped earlier than September.
“We don’t want an Australian economy that’s propped up by subsidies,” he said, in regards to JobKeeper and JobSeeker being temporary.
While we always knew the payments were temporary, Scott Morrison’s comments on it are… hypocritical to say the least. Are we forgetting that the fossil fuel companies destroying our planet, which Scott Morrison consistently defends, literally survive on subsidies?
And eat shit with your comments regarding JobSeeker being at below poverty levels to incentivise people looking for work. That is possibly the most straight-up evil thing to come out of that smug punchable face of yours.
— Sarah A – Patron Saint of Sass (@Sarah_Alice_X) May 14, 2020
So @ScottMorrisonMP says ‘We don’t want an Australian economy that’s propped up by subsidies.’
He’d rather people be homeless and hungry?— AssocProf Gemma Carey (@gemcarey) May 14, 2020
Ooh. He’s going to be so mad when he finds out about the $29b in subsidies the fossil fuels industry’s been getting https://t.co/E41zM5RGWQ
— Jon Wardle (@wardlejon) May 14, 2020
This presser seems to have given us more questions than answers, and in true Scomo fashion, seems to be a waste of time. What actual bullshit.
