Australian active labour market programmes

Expenditure on active labour market programmes, except employment services, is relatively low in Australia. However the data are not closely comparable with those of other countries because training and work experience through the Employment Pathway Fund is classified as expenditure on employment services, and unemployment benefits paid to participants in longer-term training or work-experience programmes are not reported as expenditure on these programmes. Policy changes since 2008 include the restructuring of Work for the Dole, which has reduced participant numbers, and jobseeker training through the Productivity Places Program. For youths without Year 12 schooling or equivalent, the Compact with Young Australians prioritised education and training over other activity. In non-remote areas, Community Development Employment Projects have been phased out so that Indigenous workers now have regular jobseeker status. Disability Employment Services resemble regular employment services but with higher funding, which allows providers to deliver ongoing support in the workplace in relevant cases. External evaluations of labour market programmes are relatively infrequent, but official evaluations using administrative data have provided a range of qualitative and quantitative evidence, including non-experimental estimates of the impact on exits from benefits for many of the programmes.