Students ditch welfare for jobs
TAXPAYERS may have saved as much as $410 million after thousands of students managed to find work instead of relying on the welfare system after finishing their studies.
New figures show there were 41,778 young students who moved on to income support payments last year after receiving taxpayer-funded help while studying.
That was down 10.5 per cent from the year before, with some of the biggest improvements in Victoria, where the number of students who shifted to income support payments fell from 13,467 to 11,646. Social Services Minister Christian Porter said it meant thousands of people were “more likely to be in self-fulfilling, long-term employment rather than falling into the welfare trap after finishing study”.
“Significantly, it is estimated that this reduction may save the Australian taxpayer $410 million in future lifetime costs,” he said.
Mr Porter will today announce $12.8 million in grants for seven new programs under the government’s “Try, Test and Learn Fund” to help students shift into the workforce.