John Emerson, a former business owner from Adelaide, has detailed his four-year struggle with unemployment, highlighting age discrimination by employers and the impact of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy on jobseekers.
Made redundant at the end of 2018, Emerson spent five years trying to run a solo business, including through Covid lockdowns. With no resources left and having sold everything of value, he approached Centrelink in 2023.
He notes that the unemployment payment of $1,000 a fortnight is out of touch with the cost of living, where the average house is now a million dollars and the average rent for one approaching $700 a week.
Age Discrimination in Hiring
Emerson expected to find a job quickly but realised there is a "quiet but real prejudice" among Australian employers. He submitted hundreds of unacknowledged job applications despite having serious tertiary qualifications and technological adaptability.
A manager at his appointed job agency confided that employers did not want people in their 20s, seen as unreliable and entitled, nor people over 40, seen as struggling with technology.
Monetary Policy and NAIRU
Emerson criticises the concept of the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU), which he describes as "Orwellian-sounding," used to set policies that regulate unemployment to keep inflation down. He suggests it is meant to frighten people and unions from pushing for pay rises.
Reserve Bank chief Michele Bullock, who earned $1.2m last year, declared at the end of September that the ideal unemployment rate would be 5%, despite the Reserve Bank Act obliging the bank to maintain "full employment in Australia; and the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia."
Personal Struggles and a Way Forward
During his unemployment, Emerson borrowed from family, maxed out credit, and sought therapy for mental health. The employment agency assigned to him ignored his qualifications and obliged him to apply for bottom-level jobs, often run by exploitative employers. The agency never found him a job but would have received a government bounty if he had found one.
Eventually, he was offered an entry-level job in government, where he hopes he has shown that despite his age, he works, has a brain, and thrives on technology.
Emerson calls for raising the unemployment benefit so people can live and have resources to move from welfare to work, noting that Covid payments proved it can be done.
