Centrelink payments could be about to increase
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Outspoken boss explains why young Aussies don’t want to work as Anthony Albanese considers raising Centrelink payments AGAIN: ‘You’re being paid $450 to stay at home’
- The company’s owner, Joe Galasso, has been unable to find new staff.
- 20 hours of minimum wage is only $20 more than JobSeeker
- As a result, young people will not work part-time for a small amount
- Now he fears for the future of his business if JobSeeker is promoted
A business boss says young workers would rather stay home than find a job because 20 hours of minimum wage is only $20 more than what they get on JobSeeker.
LED Lighting Designs owner Joe Galasso has criticized moves to increase JobSeeker’s payments in the May budget, saying it is already impossible for him to find new staff.
Government advisers have told Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers that JobSeeker should be increased ‘urgently’, with one committee member insisting it should be increased from $25 to $73 a day.
But Galasso fears his staffing nightmare will get even worse if JobSeeker’s payments increase.
Lighting store owner Joe Galasso criticized moves to increase JobSeeker’s payments in the May budget, saying he is already unable to find new staff.
“It’s been absolutely terrible,” he told Nine’s Today on Wednesday. “It’s very, very difficult to keep going and keep the business afloat.”
He warns that the situation will be even worse if the proposed payments for JobSeeker get the green light in the May budget.
‘If I want someone to work here 20 hours a week, the minimum wage for retail is $23.50 an hour. Twenty hours is $470,’ she said.
‘And they’re paying them $450 to stay home. I mean, what would you do? It just makes sense. You’re not going to work for $20, are you?’
He has had to give up his on-site electrical work because he couldn’t find anyone to take over part-time from his Padstow workshop in south-west Sydney.
Company boss says young workers would rather stay home than find a job because 20 hours minimum wage is just $20 more than they get on JobSeeker
“Last year we were unable to get any staff coming out of Covid,” he said. ‘I’ve had to cancel a lot of jobs and lose a lot of money because I just can’t get staff.
“I couldn’t do the Christmas lights because I couldn’t even get a young person to help us for a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
“We’ve done advertising, and I ask customers who walk in, ‘Do you know anyone who’s looking for part-time work or school hours or some of the moms?’
‘Just someone to come here and help us out and just so I can get out on some of the work that keeps the place going.
“I don’t know what the future holds if I can’t go out there and get the jobs I used to get.”
The struggling boss said he was also suffering from high electricity costs and competition from online outlets, and couldn’t get staff to compete there either.
Joe Galasso fears his staffing nightmare will get even worse if JobSeeker’s payments increase by the proposed $25 to $73 per day.
“The Internet is doing us a lot of damage,” he said. ‘We’re trying to compete with that, but without the staff to run it.
“I have a website, but I can’t get any of the staff to put things online for me, which is a job in itself.”
Galasso says other store owners are facing the same crisis, and many are on the verge of closing as a result.
“Probably a half dozen business owners have come in and they’ve all said the same thing,” he added.
‘They’re going to close their business because they can’t get workers. It is simply impossible to move on. They cannot grow the business.
“They’re working hard in the business, but there’s no return there because they can’t grow the business to start making money.”