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Job seekers and school leavers will be promised $2 billion in federal support to learn new skills in a sweeping federal program to help avoid deepening unemployment.

The Morrison government has commited $500 million to a new "JobTrainer" scheme to run new courses for thousands of workers so they have the skills that will be in demand when a recovery comes.

The government will also spend $1.5 billion on further wage subsidies for apprentices including this year’s school-leavers, in a significant move to extend a key stimulus measure beyond its original September deadline.

With the government estimating 13.3 per cent of workers have either lost their jobs or are not working any hours while on assistance, Australia has about 1.7 million people out of work.

A key objective in the government plan is to prepare for the 250,000 students who are due to leave school at the end of the year but have fewer opportunities to take up unskilled jobs or apprenticeships.

The Opposition's Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers is warning although the new scheme has a catchy name, it lacks detail. "I think there'll be a lot of skepticism and a lot of concern in the community, that this is just another marketing slogan, which falls over in the detail in the delay, and in the damage already done by seven years of cuts to TAFE and training and apprentices under the life of this coalition government."



 

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