Australia. Super top-up: Funds call for $5000 payments for low-income earners
The federal government should make one-off contributions of up to $5000 into the superannuation accounts of low-income earners who accessed their retirement savings early, a lobby group has argued.
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) on Monday released new analysis showing almost one million young workers who accessed the government’s early super access scheme had either emptied their accounts or reduced their balances to less than $1000.
Amid mounting evidence of the recession’s disproportionate impact on young people, the analysis also found that young workers were twice as likely to empty their superannuation accounts as members aged over 35.
AIST said more than 73,000 Australians had lost their insurance cover as a result, and noted women were more likely to have emptied their super accounts than men.
Economists have suggested this is because women were overrepresented in industries affected by lockdowns and accounted for a larger share of short-term, casual jobs, which were excluded from JobKeeper.
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