Did the Australian JobKeeper program save jobs by subsidizing temporary layoffs?

Jeff Borland, Jennifer Hunt

We analyze the JobKeeper lump-sum wage subsidy introduced by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, paying particular attention to the role of temporary layoffs in saving jobs. Although temporary layoffs were widely used, we find that recalls of workers on temporary layoff played only a small role in the early recovery. This suggests either that temporary layoffs were very long, or that many workers on temporary layoffs were never recalled.

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Year of publication:	November 2021
Authors:	Borland, Jeff ; Hunt, Jennifer
Publisher:	Bonn, Germany : IZA - Institute of Labor Economics
Subject:	wage subsidy \| temporary layoffs \| JobKeeper \| COVID-19 \| Lohnsubvention \| Wage subsidy \| Kündigung \| Dismissal \| Australien \| Australia \| Coronavirus \| Wirkungsanalyse \| Impact assessment \| Beschäftigungseffekt \| Employment effect \| Subvention \| Subsidy \| Arbeitslosigkeit \| Unemployment \| Arbeitsmarktpolitik \| Labour market policy