JobKeeper recipients drop by 2 million

According to the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, in its first phase from March to the end of September 2020, JobKeeper supported more than 3.6 million employees with nearly $70 billion in payments made to around 1 million businesses.

Following the tightening of eligibility rules for the extension period commencing from 28 September 2020, the number of JobKeeper recipients has fallen to 1.5 million. This indicates that around 450,000 fewer businesses and around 2 million fewer employees qualified for JobKeeper in October than in September.

The effective unemployment rate has also decreased from 9.3 per cent in September 2020 to 7.4 per cent in October 2020, with around 80 per cent of employees who lost their job or were stood down to zero hours returning to work.

The JobKeeper scheme has been extended to 28 March 2021, with tapering in the December 2020 and March 2021 quarters.