The official unemployment rate for March is 5.7%. NSW recorded a highest jump 1% to 6.9%. Analysts see this jump as an indication that Australia is in a recession. It is tipped that up to 1 million people will be out of work by next year.

The calls to increase unemployment benefits have been intensified:
1. The Greens are calling the new start allowance to match the pension;
2. Independent senator Nick Xenophon said increasing the benefits for the first three to six months of jobless could give people the confidence to spend.
3. The Australian Council of social Service is pushing for an increase in unemployment benefits of at least $30 a week.

There is not much for people who lost or will lose their jobs in the stimulus package. We need to speak out!

According to an article from the Age (First home-owner deadline looms, 23/04/2009), Treasurer Wayne Swan said he could not guarantee that the jobless rate won't hit double digits after a ''bleak'' report form the International Monetary Fund on the global economy.

Releasing its latest World Economic Outlook late overnight, the IMF forecast Australian growth would contract by 1.4% in 2009, before growing by 0.6% in 2010.

Mr Swan was asked if he could guarantee that the jobless rate wouldn't hit the double digit levels seen in the early 1990s.

''There are no guarantees when you are amidst the most savage global recession since the Great Depression,'' Mr Swan said.

''The Government will do everything we possibly can by way of economic stimulus to support jobs now ... and to put in place the building blocks for recovery so that we can maximise the employment opportunities that will flow from the global recovery when it comes.''

Should we, jobless people/people lost jobs recently due to the financial crises, make some noises to the goverment for more help from their next budget?