M I S S I O N EN T ER PR I S ES : EMPLOY MENT PLUS
Getting the job done Throughout the 2020-21 financial year, The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus network continued to respond to challenges and rapidly changing situations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impacts of the pandemic were already being felt in the lead-up to July 2020, we began the financial year with a great deal of lingering uncertainty regarding how the virus and restrictions would impact our economy, unemployment, employment prospects, and our operations. We saw a significant increase in demand on our employment services – in September 2020, when our caseload volume was at its peak, the number of job seekers Employment Plus was supporting had almost doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. By the commencement of the 2020/2021 financial year, the pandemic and associated restrictions had seen unemployment rise considerably. At this stage, more than 1.4 million Australians were unemployed and collecting the JobSeeker allowance, with an additional 1.6 million Australians receiving the JobKeeper payment. Employment Plus commenced the financial year with a total active caseload of 39,060 job seekers across all our employment programs – a significant increase from our caseload of 23,300 just 12 months earlier. As the year went on, the number of job seekers needing support fluctuated as restrictions changed in different states and territories across the country, and more job opportunities opened up in those areas with fewer restrictions. During the financial year, Employment Plus supported a total of 68,704 job seekers, helping them prepare
1.4 million Australians were unemployed at the start of the financial year 48
and search for work, with 20,901 (approximately 30 per cent) finding employment or enrolling in education. This was a significant increase from the previous year when we supported 61,741 job seekers and helped 12,480 obtain employment or further their education. With the volume of job seekers sent to Employment Plus from Centrelink growing significantly across the year, an additional 75 frontline staff were employed to assist in managing the workload.
68,700+
job seekers were supported by Employment Plus
T HE SA LVATIO N A RM Y AU ST RA L IA ( S O C IA L F UN D ) A n n u a l R e p o r t 2021
30%
of job seekers supported found employment or enrolled in education
