Hundreds of thousands more Victorians will be eligible for the JobKeeper wage subsidy, under changes worth an extra $15 billion.

Workers will also qualify if they were employed on July 1, rather than March 1.

“We believe that about 530,000 extra Victorian employees will now join the JobKeeper program over the September quarter, that means 1.5 million Victorian employees will be using JobKeeper,” he said.

“That’s nearly half of the private sector workforce across the whole state.”

The changes will apply across the country, meaning some businesses in other states will qualify, however Mr Frydenberg said he expected $13 billion of the money to flow to Victoria.

Key points

• The new guidelines for the JobKeeper extension will begin on September 28
• More businesses and workers will now qualify for the government payments
• Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the Victorian lockdowns have forced the additional $15 billion spend

Source
ABC News