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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Australia: Government Proposes $1,000 Bonus for Hiring Workers Over 50

The Australian government has announced that it will budget $10 million for new "Jobs Bonuses" to help tackle age discrimination and encourage businesses to employ older Australian who want to stay in the workforce, among other things providing $10,000 for employers who recruit and retain a mature age job seeker for more than three months. The initiative is part of the "Government Response to the Final Report of the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians."

Included in the response to the Advisory Panel report "Turning Grey into Gold" are funds to extend the Corporate Champions program to provide support to employers who wish to promote mature aged employment at their workplace, to extend the Career Advice service by two years to ensure mature age people have access to free, professional career advice, and to promote lifelong learning by expanding education opportunities by adult and community education providers and community organisations to older Australians.

In addition, the government plans to expand the More Help for Mature Age Workers initiative, to now be called the "Investing in Experience - Skills Recognition and Training" program, to allow industries to benefit from improving the skills of their over 50's workforces. To help address age discrimination and stereotyping of older workers, the government will also provide funds to the Age Discrimination Commissioner to address age discrimination, age stereotyping and ageism more generally, and will review Commonwealth legislation to identify age barriers that prevent continued participation in the workforce for people aged 45 years and over.

Source: Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Media Release (April 18, 2012)

Reaction: National Seniors Media Release (April 18, 2012); SilverTemp "Employers to get $1000. bonus for hiring older workers" (April 17, 2012)

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