A Shorten Labor Government will make it easier for small business to create new jobs and get more Australians into work – delivering a tax cut for businesses who give young Australians a first start and older Australians another go.

Too many mature Australians are too young to retire, but unable to find work – leaving around 86,000 Australians aged over 55 looking for work.

At the same time, young job seekers today are finding it harder to get a foot in the door – nearly one in three young people in the labour force are either unemployed or underemployed, there are almost 260,000 unemployed youth in Australia that want a job but simply aren’t being given the chance.  

Labor’s New Jobs Tax Cut will give small businesses an incentive to put on additional employees aged under 25, over 55 and carers returning to the workforce.

Companies with turnover of less than $10 million which have been operating for more than two years will be eligible for an additional 30 per cent tax deduction for up to five new workers’ salaries for their first year of employment, capped at $50,000 per company. 

The New Jobs Tax Cut will be available to businesses hiring Australians who face real barriers to finding work. To be eligible for the additional deduction, new employees need to be unemployed for three months or more and be either: 

• Job seekers under the age of 25 or over 55; or
• Parents or carers returning to work

The New Jobs Tax Cut is good for jobs and good for the economy.
Labor’s plan will help businesses grow and help jobseekers get a foot in the door.

The economy isn’t working for all Australians – everything is going up except people’s wages. Youth unemployment is more than double the national unemployment rate and a record number of Australians are working two jobs to make ends meet.

Labor’s plan supports Australian businesses to grow and invest, supports new jobs and will provide an important economic boost.

And we can support this smart economic investment in more jobs and business growth by closing the Liberals’ tax loopholes for the top end of town.

This election is a choice between Labor’s strong and stable team, or the Liberals’ cuts and chaos.

The New Jobs Tax Cut will cost $141 million over the forward estimates.