"It's harsh but true to say that Australia no longer has an effective coherent national employment services system."

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"We have an inefficient outsourced fragmented social security compliance management system that sometimes gets someone a job against all odds."

So began the report of the parliamentary inquiry into Australia's employment services in 2023. This stark finding prompted relief that the federal government would finally tackle one of our most dysfunctional and unproductive human service systems - but two years, on we are still waiting for the system to be overhauled.

More than one million Australians are looking for work. Some will find employment quickly, but for those who experience months or years of joblessness, the financial and social impacts are devastating. Unemployment affects almost one in five families, undermining health, housing security and children's education. The federal government spends nearly $2 billion annually contracting 114 service providers to deliver several different employment programs, including Workforce Australia and the youth-specific Transition to Work program. These providers are contracted to help people find secure, decent work - yet only one in five people who go through the employment services system manage to gain and stay in a job for six months.

By building a complex system of financial incentives and compliance to steer providers and participants, successive governments have created an inflexible system that is a poor match for the diversity of our workforce today and into the future. Too much energy and money is spent on making people jump through hoops instead of providing the help they need to find work - a situation at odds with the focus on improving productivity. This is a system that, in the........

© Canberra Times