As a resume writer, I know the true number of people looking for work and the pain and suffering many are going through. That includes losing houses, broken marriages, depression, hopelessness and suicide.

It’s appalling to find at the start of the greatest recession in Australia’s history, that News Corporation and the Prime Minister reckon increased JobKeeper payments, are creating more ‘leaners than lifters’. It’s as if the Covid-19 recession never struck.

The Morrison government argues the doubled rate of jobseeker payment is deterring people from taking up work.

The PM said “anecdotal feedback” inferred some businesses were finding it hard to find staff because of the boosted payments.

In fact, unpublished data from Seek shows that employers are being flooded with job applications despite higher rate of welfare benefits.

The number of applicants per job at the end of June was 16 per cent above pre-coronavirus levels. That includes applications from unemployed senior professionals.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows there are 12 Australians on unemployment payments for every one vacancy. In Adelaide, it’s about 30 people for every vacancy.

At Republic Resumes, client numbers have fallen 20 per cent because there are so few jobs to target. The high number of applications per job is due to the scarcity of new positions due to Covid-19 restrictions and a crumbling economy.

The number of people receiving the jobseeker payment is at 1.6 million, about double the usual cohort of beneficiaries.

Since April these people have been receiving a boosted version of the payment, which has been increased from about $560 to about $1,100 a fortnight, although the temporary rate expires on 27 September.