The Australian Government’s decision to extend the JobKeeper program until 28 March 2021 will prevent an economic collapse, support the property market and provide confidence for Australians, says KnowHow founder Bushy Martin.
“The ongoing fiscal support and stimulus through the continuation of JobKeeper and JobSeeker, together with a raft of other integrated monetary measures at the federal and state level, will eliminate the financial cliff that the doomsdayers were continuing to try and scare us with,” KnowHow founder Bushy Martin said.
“And these ongoing measures will continue to provide a safety net under hard working Australians, which will continue to stimulate spending and further underpin property values.”
The existing JobKeeper scheme will remain in place until 27 September 2020. From 28 September onwards, a two-tier payment scheme will be introduced aiming to target and support businesses that have been impacted the most.
Importantly, those on JobKeeper will be required to re-assess their eligibility for the extension.
Here’s some of the key points on the JobKeeper extension
- The payment rate for eligible employees and businesses of $1500 per fortnight will be reduced to $1200 from 28 September 2020 and to $1000 per fortnight from 4 January 2021
- From 28 September 2020, lower payment rates will apply for participants that worked fewer than 20 hours per week
- Businesses and not-for-profits will still need to show they’ve experienced a a decline in turnover of 30 percent or more
UPDATE, 7 August 2020:
The government announced an easing of the JobKeeper criteria.
Businesses will now only need to show that their GST turnover had dropped over one quarter, instead of multiple, to be eligible for the updated scheme.
Workers will also qualify if they were employed on July 1, instead of March 1.
More reading on the JobKeeper extension
Fact sheet: JobKeeper extension
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