“Mutual Obligation”: Useless At Best, Harmful At Worst

In news that will surprise almost none of you, virtually all job-seekers regard the hoops they have to jump through and keep jumping through, to receive their $49-a-day pittance, as bloody useless, when it comes to finding work, according to new research by Anglicare Australia that was released today.

Only 11% ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that their obligations were actually helping them to find paid work.
Only 19% ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that their obligations were actually tailored to their personal situation.
56% ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that their obligations were stopping them from doing things they find meaningful.
And a huge 79% (45% ‘agreed’, 34% ‘strongly agreed’) thought their obligations were pointless.

We would surely do wonders for the mental health of job-seekers, give them far more free time to do the things they need to do, if we discarded all these hoops that job-seekers are expected to constantly jump through.

Let’s let job-seekers live and breathe, instead of having to constantly prove themselves worthy.

Let’s end this cruel, rigged game. A game where people looking for work have a million obligations, which largely do nothing but waste their time, or get in the way of things that would actually be meaningful and beneficial for them, all while the government allows them to starve on an income that is hundreds of dollars a week below the poverty-line.