The compromise that might just boost the JobSeeker unemployment benefit
- Written by Michael O'Neil, Executive Director, SA Centre for Economic Studies, University of Adelaide
The government is about to make an historic decision.
The JobSeeker unemployment benefit (previously called Newstart) has scarcely increased in real terms since 1994.
In that time general living standards, as measured by real gross domestic product per capita, have almost doubled, climbing 83%.
Other benefits such as the age pension have broadly kept...