Broke and broken: The cost of unemployment during the COVID-19 crisis | 60 Minutes Australia

with the corona virus pandemic it's too easy to dismiss the way we're all now forced to live as the new normal the truth is it's not normal nothing like it the disease itself the social distancing the massive job losses and the world's blown up economies are completely alien to us governments are throwing enormous amounts of money at the problem but as Sara Arbor reports it's impossible to put a price on the human cost of this catastrophe [Music] it's early morning in the woods household on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria mum Trish reckons it's a school day but for her four children stuck at home for weeks now it's more like Groundhog Day what was like a holiday like we've just on school holidays and then sort of probably this by the third week the start of the third week it started to get a bit tense and like are we coming out like a bit more depressive I think Trish's energy is infectious and while there's no doubt all this activity is important for the kids it's also a distraction from a desperate reality Trish doesn't want to think about a few weeks ago she and her partner Aaron both lost their jobs now they're not only broke but also very close to breaking nothing nothing okay 51 cents you've got probably a couple of dolls so I think I've got $10 in one account that's you how much money did you have coming in that mm a week just it fluctuate from here there but paid our rent paid our bills enough to live comfortably yeah nothing for the kids and stuff it's not just about being penniless it's the speed with which it happened that's really shocked this couple so working 10 12 hour days yeah all week yeah - nothing - nothing here how quickly did that happen overnight they're pretty stressful and in the meantime we're borrowing money or family so that you can just put food on the table [Music] across the country the stories of economic heartbreak caused by the coronavirus are all too familiar in sydney janelle joseph he's doing something she never ever imagined gratefully accepting food from charity to feed her family a lot of people wouldn't have expected that needs to rely on charity in their lives certainly not certainly not you know we live quite comfortably and we sufficient and all of a sudden that changed through no fault of our own and that is most confusing and we're very grateful for all the people that are there to help us and to help us navigate our way forward [Music] the way forward is thanks to the Lamantia community pantry in Sydney's southwest and the visits are now twice a week because the coronavirus has not just left Janelle out of work it's given her four extra mouths to feed relatives who couldn't get by on their own I have myself and my husband I have my 83 year old father I have my brother I have my daughter and her husband and another daughter and her partner living with us from Vanuatu so you've gone from having four people in your home to now eight under the one roof that's right that's correct lucky we have the space but without the income it's been definitely a struggle that's for sure did you feel a huge weight on your shoulders we've actually gone from a family who didn't feel as though there were any financial struggles or any financial difficulties we've always been able to pay the bills on time and weekly and now all of a sudden we had to sit down and have a think about where the grocery money was coming from where the money for the registration of vehicles were coming from and which vehicles we would sell to be able to manage to get through all of this as well Jenelle is one of more than a million Australians either unemployed or underemployed because of the coronavirus a number that's predicted to rise dramatically as an employer of more than a hundred thousand Australians Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott knows the importance of keeping people in work when you look around at all the people who have been impacted that you're concerned about those people perhaps not being able to recover not being able to find jobs post pandemic absolutely I'm very concerned about people losing their jobs and and also people being stuck at home for so long I think there's also a real cost of being out of work it goes to self-esteem that goes to mental health and I think that really goes to a much more important role of employment which is not about the national economy it's about our our well-being our mental health welcome to my happy place yes yes Trish used to run a thriving and profitable dance studio five weeks ago for the safety of her staff and students she shut it down must be strange to get used to an empty studio like this I don't want to get used to it and hopefully it won't be too much longer and we can all be back together so yeah it is very strange to be here and be so quiet it's never quiet never but in saying that we all have to stay positive and I am that positive Trish is lucky she's optimistic by Nature but her Boilermaker partner Erin unemployed for the first time in 30 years isn't and is finding it very hard going what are the next few weeks look like for you pretty grim [Music] when all this happened when I run out of work I didn't have any work I seeked help them so I think there's a lot of people in the same boat so I'm just probably speaking for a lot of people like one and a half million other Australians both Trish and Erin applied for the $1,100 a fortnight job seeker payments if I click on new claim and after an agonizing four weeks they finally qualified and a few days ago received some welcome money it's been a similar story for thousands of struggling businesses trying to retain staff by applying for the government's $1500 fortnightly job keeper allowance Wesfarmers Rob Scott was one of four business leaders treasurer at Josh Frydenberg asked to help formulate the package it is one hundred and thirty billion dollars over six months this is not something the government can afford to do forever and that is why it is so important that in a measured way we we plot a path to get people back and work get businesses operating again so the government doesn't need to bear this burden when the sausage starts sizzling again outside Bunnings I think we'll have thought we've returned to normal finally I think that's right at Janelle's home donated dinners have become the norm but the upheaval of the past few weeks is still taking a lot of getting used to have you earn anyone else in your household applied for any government subsidies we had applied for a job job seeker and all my children had applied for job seeker or job keeper but none of us have received any of that as yet lift now arms keeping busy is Trish's way of coping her studio might be shut down but everyone's still dancing not that it's helping financially good girl so you're offering those classes oh yeah those think the kids that are dancing that cannot afford to dance are still dancing now with me because I couldn't I couldn't live myself my heart breaks now best sort of chance of getting the economy back on track involves doing it slowly and very carefully not not not rushing as painful as life has become for thousands of families Chris Edmonds professor of economics at the University of Melbourne says we must ensure more he's warned the government that lifting the lockdown too soon could actually leave us worse off what we want to avoid is kind of there's a bang bang on off having to kind of crunch the sort of the shutdown and again again because we keep letting it get out of control because we do too impatient to get back to normal and end up in some sense taking longer to get back to normal because it had impatience will we ever return through a pre-pandemic normal the size of the shock is so large that we're going to be struggling for it you know for like two years to come before we're kind of really looking at at something that could be considered back to normal on the economic front alone but there is some positive news professor edmond says Australia's economy is in a better state than almost every other country in the world and the point is now that we're in that relatively fortuitous position to be really really careful not to blow it it's an unprecedented economic situation and the fiscal response is comparably unprecedented remarkably on the Mornington Peninsula Trish and Aaron also see some good in the bad we're far more connected now than we ever used to be near our heads were buried in our phones texting people all the time I don't want to text people now I want to actually speak to them you know and not a bad thing no I think we I think we all needed not saying that we needed this to happen but in one way we needed to reconnect with who we are and reconnect with our families reconnect with what's important to us as individuals for all the misery coronavirus has brought even for those who haven't caught it it has taught us a valuable lesson about resilience that families like the woods in Victoria and Joseph sensitive neem and millions of others across the country have loads of it why don't I call this stuff we're reading it's called a quiche plant and maybe the new normal we're all so worried about is really just a return to the good old days in those days everybody grew a choko vine over their toilet and your father Barry now has a captive audience there too he's got wonderful stories wonderful wonderful stories that have kept us all laughing we had a choco vine and a passion fruit Vaughn we're in the toilet we could put our hand out take a passion fruit it's wonderful yes he's loving it [Laughter] hello I'm Sarah abou thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 723,237

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Sarah Abo, cost of living, unemployment, unemployment benefits, job keeper, job seeker, covid 19, coronavirus, lost job due to covid, business shut down, australia shut down, australia lockdown, charity meals, family unemployed, what to do if unemployed

Id: cGL2f52_xaU

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2020