Introduction
COVID-19, the deadly virus that came into news a few months back originating from China has now clasped over two-third of world’s population with its deadly aftermaths. The Coronavirus infection has affected more than a million people in 175+ countries and the count has been constantly increasing since its commencement. Governments and health authorities across the globe are worried and bringing in measures to keep human casualties to the minimum. Due to the pandemic, the economies have been experiencing a sharp downswing as most of the countries are on lockdown to stop the spread of this fatal virus. It has become a grave challenge for individuals to meet ends meet during these times of crisis.
However, a good news showed up for Australian employees amidst these bleak times. The Australian Government announced job keeper payment worth $130 billion dollars in order to help survive, businesses and keep the Australian population employed. This is one of the most significant decisions that came amidst the pandemic to support the business as well as local individuals. The government’s relief package for coronavirus is intended to ensure that each employee held on in a business that has lost customers receives at least $1500 fortnightly for a period of six months.
The government announced relief measures for businesses amid coronavirus outbreak to support its working population. This relief package is worth 12 percent of the budget planned for the upcoming six months. Here are some of the features of the bill, which came into effect March 30th 2020.
Job Keeper Payment
Income support partner pay income test
Conclusion
This is an appreciable step by the government that will help many businesses survive and remain to be an employer to their employees, which is crucial to a speedy comeback.
Targeting only companies suffering a revenue losing margins profiteering, the businesses doing well won’t be provided nonessential assistance. The government’s relief package provides aid to all part-time, full-time, and long-term informal employees and it requires all participating companies to compensate employees at least the $1,500 subsidy fortnightly.
However, several threats are always associated with this kind of subsidy package. For instance, it might motivate companies to restrict sales to pull the revenue below the turnover margin. This might lead to wasting currency on jobs that would have been generated anyway or replacing one kind of employee for another.
The relief package scheme will primarily target employees who are at or near the minimum salary. It is done because the compensation is put near to the minimum salary.
As a consequence, companies can rehire or continue with minimum-wage employees for free. The government’s relief measure will also lead to hardships for companies who are in desperate need of employees (like supermarkets) to employ new staff from presently struggling businesses.
Bringing in the temporary subsidy package, and limiting it to companies dealing with a 30% decline in revenue (50% for big firms) curtails these threats to an extent. The government needs to have a check alongside in order to ensure the optimal utilization of this relief package. It is praiseworthy though that the government offset the declining economic course of businesses instantly given the worsening circumstances.