What happens after JobKeeper ends?

Yesterday we spoke about the unemployment rate in Australia, but there’s a looming cloud over many Australians with the JobKeeper (separate to JobSeeker) payment scheme ending on March 28 (Sunday). Let’s get up to speed on what this means for Australians.

A quick refresher of what JobKeeper is:
Simply put, it’s a subsidy for businesses that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. It allows businesses to continue paying their employees (or yourself if you’re a sole trader) during the financial difficulties of the pandemic.

But didn’t The Daily Aus say yesterday that unemployment is going down? Isn’t this just a natural progression?
We like that you’re paying attention. It’s actually the fear of the unknown that’s causing the concern. Since the introduction of JobKeeper, the program has supported 3.5 million workers, totalling almost a third of the workforce. As of December 2020, there were still around 1.5 million recipients. Economists have underscored the difficulty in forecasting the consequences of removing JobKeeper. Professor Jeff Borland from the University of Melbourne has estimated 125,000-250,000 job losses as a result of JobKeeper ending, but with the difficulty of forecasting, he suggested that figure could go up to 500,000.

The Morrison Government is hopeful the economy won't face a "fiscal cliff", with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg saying “with an additional $200 billion sitting on household and business balance sheets compared to the start of last year, there is a huge sum of money available to be spent across the economy helping to create jobs and maintain the momentum of our economic recovery”.

The Labor Opposition has called for an extension to the JobKeeper program, with Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying last month "the Government shouldn't be in a rush to cut it".

There have been reports that the Government may consider a JobKeeper style plan for specific sectors, but no details have been announced.