YOUTHS IN JOB CRISIS
THE Federal Government is cracking down on employers short changing their staff over compulsory superannuation.
An analysis by the Australian Taxation Office found employees could have missed out on $ 2.85 billion of their super guarantee payments during the 2014- 15 financial year because employers failed to meet their obligations.
Revenue Minister Kelly O’Dwyer says employers deliberately not paying their workers’ super entitlements are “robbing” their staff of wages.
“This is illegal and won’t be tolerated,” she said in a statement yesterday.
The Government is providing the tax office with additional funding for a superannuation task force to crack down on employer noncompliance. It comes alongside legislation to close a legal loophole used by some “unscrupulous” employers to shortchange employees who make salary- sacrifice contributions, Ms O’Dwyer said.
The Government is also aiming to make employers make monthly contributions so the ATO can better identify non- compliance.
The package aims to simplify employer payments, while giving the ATO the ability to seek court- order penalties where employers are caught repeatedly failing in their super obligations.
The ATO analysis found the gap between the amount employers were required to pay and their actual contribution is estimated to be 5.2 per cent of the $ 54.78 billion of superannuation obligations.
“We encourage people to report instances of non- payment to us and we respond to every one of the approximately 20,000 reports of possible nonpayment of SG from employees or former employees we receive each year,” the ATO said. NEARLY one in four young people in Townsville are unemployed, newly released figures show.
The youth unemployment rate jumped from 15.6 per cent in July 2016 to 22.2 per cent in July 2017, according to State Government data released last Thursday.
The number of people without jobs aged between 18 and 25 in Townsville is the second highest among Queensland cities.
It’s a statistic that rings true for 23- year- old Townsville woman Marissa Kearney.
Since quitting her job at McDonalds in February, the mother of two has had no luck finding work. She said after eight years of working at the fast food outlet she had been ready for a change.
“But I’ve been told I’m too qualified or I don’t have enough experience,” she said.
“I’ve lived in Townsville my whole life and this is the hardest I have found it to get any type of job.
“A lot of the time I have found out the job was filled before I applied but they still had to put it up.
“Other times they have brought someone from down south instead just so they didn’t have to train anyone up.”
Townsville MP Scott Stewart said the Government had introduced policies to directly target the youth unemployment issue.
He said a new procurement policy, which will change the defi- nition of local to within 125km of where a project is located, would spur job creation in Townsville.
The new policy comes into force on September 1.
Mr Stewart said companies on government projects would be required to have apprenticeship positions for at least 15 per cent of their workforce.
He said the Government had also invested in large- scale infrastructure projects like the new Townsville stadium and the $ 56 million of expansion of the SeaLink terminal.
“It’s about creating job opportunities,” he said.
“When money is spent locally it stays local and in the community, which creates jobs.”
He said there had been a high take- up in Townsville of the Back to Work Youth Boost program, which provides financial incentives for businesses which hire long- term youth unemployed.
“There are a lot of job opportunities on the horizon and we’ve got to get people trained for those jobs,” he said.