Income support payments for the working age population

The Australian Government provides a range of income support payments that are designed to assist people unable to work (due to disability or caring responsibilities), people unable to find work or to secure sufficient work, and people pursuing post-school learning.

This page examines receipt of income support payments for the population aged 16–64, as this age group represents the primary section of Australia’s productive workforce (referred to on this page as the ‘working-age population’). For information on people aged 65 and over receiving income support payments and their main payment types (including Age Pension), see Income support for older Australians. 

Unless otherwise stated, income support data on this page are sourced from the Department of Social Services (DSS) Income Support Recipients – Monthly Time Series and Benefit and Payment Recipient Demographics - quarterly data.

How many people receive income support?

As at 28 March 2025, around 5.3 million people aged 16 and over were receiving income support payments (24% of the population aged 16 and over). Of these, almost half (45%) or 2.4 million people were aged 16–64, equating to 14% of the population aged 16–64.

Among the 2.4 million people aged 16–64 receiving income support payments, there were:

• 38% (919,000) receiving unemployment payments – 821,000 receiving JobSeeker Payment and 98,500 receiving Youth Allowance (other)
• 28% (670,000) receiving Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• 16% (387,000) receiving parenting payments – 328,000 receiving Parenting Payment Single (PPS) and 59,200 receiving Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP)
• 11% (256,000) receiving Carer Payment
• 7.2% (172,000) receiving student payments – 143,000 receiving Youth Allowance, 6,600 receiving ABSTUDY and 23,200 receiving Austudy
• 0.1% (2,400) receiving Special Benefit payments.

The Australian Government also funds employment services to help people receiving income support with finding and keeping a job. There are a range of employment services programs and as at 28 March 2025, 2 of the main programs supported:

• 689,000 people participating in mainstream employment service programs (up from 651,000 people in 31 October 2022 see Workforce Australia Caseload Time Series)
• 247,000 people participating in Disability Employment Services (DES) program (down from 283,000 people on 31 October 2022, see DSS Disability Employment Services - monthly profile and Specialised supports for people with disability).

Trends in receiving income support

Receipt of income support has fallen over the last decade, except during the COVID pandemic

As shown in Figure 1, the proportion of the population aged 16–64 receiving income support has declined over the last decade, except for a steep rise during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2020. It fell from 17% in March 2012 to 14% in March 2020, and then rose steeply in June 2020 to 20%. It then continued to decline reaching pre-pandemic levels by June 2022 (14%), and remained between 13% and 14% since then, most recently at 14% in March 2025. This is consistent with the declining receipt of income support for the population aged 16 and over, from 26% in March 2012 to 24% in March 2025.

The number of people aged 16–64 receiving income support has fluctuated over this period from 2.5 million in March 2012 to a peak of 3.3 million in June 2020, then falling to the lowest level in a decade in December 2023 (2.2 million) and increasing to 2.4 million by March 2025. 

The decline in the proportion of the population receiving income support reflects labour market conditions, such as strong jobs growth and a low unemployment rate over this period, as well as reforms to the social security over the last decade, including:

• consolidation of the types of payments available, in particular closure of partner payments and payments for mature age adults (aged 55–64)
• tighter eligibility criteria for some payments, such as changes to income test thresholds and qualifying age for payments
• Family Tax Benefit becoming the primary payment for dependent full-time secondary students living at home rather than Youth Allowance
• requirements for people receiving activity-tested income support payments to be looking for work or engaged in activities that will help them find work in the future (mutual obligation requirements).   

See Australia’s Welfare 2019: data insights, People with disability in Australia 2024 – income support and Employment and unemployment.

The impact of these policy changes is likely to have influenced the declining receipt of DSP, student payments and parenting payments over the last decade, as shown in Figure 1. Between March 2012 and March 2025, receipt of:

• DSP fell from 804,000 to 670,000, or from 5.4% to 3.8% of the population aged 16–64
• student payments fell from 330,000 to 172,000 (or from 2.2% to 1.0% of the population aged 16–64), or among people aged 16 to 34 from 314,000 to 165,000 (or from 5.2% to 2.3% of the population aged 16–34)
• parenting payments fell from 442,000 to 387,000 (or from 3.0% to 2.2% of the population aged 16–64). Note that the number of people receiving Parenting Payment Single (PPS) increased considerably from 226,000 in June 2023 to 328,000 in March 2025 (or from 1.3% to 1.9%). This reflects policy changes to PPS in September 2023 – increasing the qualifying age of youngest child from under 8 to under 14 years. 

Receipt of unemployment payments has remained relatively stable, but the number of people with a partial capacity to work has doubled over the last decade

In contrast to other payments, receipt of unemployment payments has remained relatively stable over the last decade (around 5–6% of the population aged 16–64). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic the proportion receiving these payments rose steeply from 5.4% to 10.7% of the population aged 16–64 between March and June 2020. By September 2022, it had returned to pre-pandemic levels (5.4%), then continued to decline to 4.6% in September 2023, before increasing again to 5.3% in March 2025 (Figure 1). These movements closely mirror changes to the employment and unemployment rate over this period. See Employment and unemployment and Australia’s welfare 2023: data insights article Employment and income support following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While receipt of unemployment payments has remained stable over the last decade, the number of people aged 16 and over receiving unemployment payments who had a partial capacity to work has more than doubled from 122,000 to 371,000 (or from 17% to 38% of the people receiving unemployment payments between 2012 and 2025; Figure 3). This increase coincides with the broader prevalence of disability in Australia and the impact of disability on a person’s capacity to work. While some people with a disability or impairment may qualify for DSP, others who do not meet the eligibility criteria for DSP may still receive other forms of income support where they are assessed as having a partial capacity to work. 

Figure 1: People aged 16–64 receiving income support payments, by payment type, March 2012 to March 2025

Characteristics of income support recipients

Females more likely than males to receive an income support payment, as Carer Payment and parenting payment recipients are mostly female

Overall, females were more likely to receive income support payments than males – 1.4 million and 1.0 million, respectively, or 16% and 12% of the population aged 16–64, as at 28 March 2025 (Figure 1).

This is driven by women being the predominant recipients of Carer Payment and parenting payments – 72% and 93% respectively of people receiving these payments were women (Figure 2). This equates to 2.1% of females and 0.8% of males aged 16–64 receiving Carer Payment and 4.1% and 0.3% receiving parenting payments, respectively (Figure 1).

On the other hand, males were more likely than females to receive unemployment payments (5.8% and 4.8%, respectively) or DSP (4.2% and 3.5%, respectively; Figure 1).

People receiving parenting and student payments tend to be younger while DSP and Carer Payment recipients are older

The age distribution of recipients of specific income support payments reflects the life circumstances associated with the payment (Figure 2).

As at 28 March 2025, in comparison with other payments, people aged 16–64 receiving:

• student and parenting payments tended to be younger – 4 in 5 (81%) student payment recipients were aged 16–24 and almost 4 in 5 (78%) parenting payment recipients were aged 25–44
• DSP and Carer Payment tended to be older – over 1 in 3 were aged 55–64 (38% for DSP recipients and 34% for Carer Payment recipients).

In contrast, the distribution of people receiving unemployment payments and overall income support payments was relatively similar for each of the 10-year age groups between 16–64 (between 17% and 22% for unemployment payments and between 18% and 23% for income support recipients overall).

Figure 2: Receipt of income support payments among people aged 16–64, by payment type and selected characteristics, as at 28 March 2025 

First Nations people

As at 28 March 2025, 301,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people aged 16–64 were receiving income support payments – representing 48% of First Nations people aged 16–64. Of these, 143,000 received unemployment payments (23% of First Nations people aged 16–64), 64,400 received DSP (10%), 63,100 received parenting payments (10%), 21,600 received Carer Payment (3.4%), and 9,000 received student payments (1.4% of First Nations people aged 16–64 or 8,400 or 2.5% of First Nations people aged 16–34). 

See Income and finance of First Nations people. 

Psychological or psychiatric conditions are the most commonly recorded primary medical condition for DSP recipients and care receivers of Carer Payment

As at 28 March 2025, psychological or psychiatric conditions were the most commonly recorded primary medical conditions for people aged 16–64 receiving DSP (42%), followed by intellectual and learning conditions (17%) and musculoskeletal and connective tissue conditions (13%) (Figure 2).

Among care receivers aged 16–64 of people receiving the Carer Payment, the most commonly recorded medical conditions were also psychological or psychiatric conditions (37%), followed by musculoskeletal and connective tissue conditions (16%) and intellectual or learning conditions (13%).

For both DSP and care receivers of Carer Payment, musculoskeletal and connective tissue conditions were more prevalent among older recipients aged 45–64 (91% and 85% of recipients, respectively). However, psychological and psychiatric conditions as well as intellectual and learning conditions were more evenly distributed across age groups and in some cases even more prevalent among younger recipients, as shown in Figure 2. For example, for care receivers of Carer Payment, intellectual and learning conditions were most prevalent among the 16–24 age group (42%).

Payment characteristics

Means-tested arrangements are designed to ensure that income support targets those most in need, by assessing an eligible individual’s income and assets to determine their rate of payment. People receiving income support are assessed on income received from all sources (unless specifically exempt), such as work income, deemed income from financial assets and rental income. 

Payment characteristics are only available as a total for all age groups including people below the age of 16 and those aged 65 and over.

Part-rate payments more likely for people receiving student and parenting payments, while least likely among DSP recipients

As shown in Figure 2, people receiving student and parenting payments were more likely to receive a part-rate payment than people receiving other payments – 31% and 33%, respectively – compared with 20% and 18% for people receiving Carer Payment and unemployment payments, as at 28 March 2025. People receiving DSP were least likely to receive a part-rate payment (12%).  

The vast majority of people receiving DSP (93%) or Carer Payment (90%) declared no earnings from employment in the preceding fortnight. In contrast, 55% of student payment recipients and 65% of parenting payment recipients declared no earnings in the preceding fortnight.

Over the last decade (2012–2025), there have been declines in the proportion of people receiving student payments with no declared earnings (from 70% to 55%), and similarly for parenting payments (from 73% to 65%). In contrast, the proportions with no declared earnings have remained relatively stable for DSP, Carer Payment and unemployment payments recipients over this period (Figure 3).

DSP and Carer Payment recipients stay on income support far longer than JobSeeker Payment recipients

The average duration on income support for people receiving payments as at 28 March 2025 was the longest for people receiving DSP (901 weeks; around 17 years) and Carer Payment (596 weeks; around 11 years), while it was considerably shorter for people receiving JobSeeker Payment (256 weeks; 5 years). Average duration on income support for other income support payments was between 61 weeks (just over one year) for ABSTUDY (Living Allowance) and 348 weeks (around 7 years) for Parenting Payment Single (Figure 2).

Consistent with these findings, the vast majority of people receiving DSP or Carer Payment receive an income support payment for 5 years or more (83% for DSP and 71% for Carer Payment recipients). Further, people receiving student payments were far more likely to be on income support for less than 2 years (71% of student payment recipients) than people receiving unemployment payments (51%) and parenting payments (29%). Overall, almost 1 in 3 (31%) people receiving income support had been on an income support payment for less than 2 years (Figure 2).

Over the last decade, there has been a steady growth in the payment duration for JobSeeker Payment/Newstart Allowance recipients. Average duration of payment receipt increased from 113 weeks for current Newstart Allowance recipients in March 2015 to a peak of 189 weeks for JobSeeker Payment recipients in September 2023 and subsequently declined to 170 weeks by March 2025 (Figure 3). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, average duration fell considerably to 84–97 weeks between May and September 2020, reflecting the influx of new JobSeeker Payment recipients who predominantly remained on income support for less than 1 year (57%) (see Australia’s welfare 2023: data insights article Employment and income support following the COVID-19 pandemic). Similar increases in average duration of payment receipt were also observed for people receiving DSP and Carer Payment – from 563 to 738 weeks for DSP and from 252 to 352 weeks for Carer Payment between March 2015 and March 2025 (DSS 2025b).  

Figure 3: Selected payment characteristics, by payment type, March 2012 to March 2025  

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on income support payments, see:

• Services Australia A guide to Australian Government payments
• DSS Income Support Recipients – Monthly Time Series and Benefit and Payment Recipient Demographics - quarterly data
• Australia’s welfare: data insights, 2019, 2021, 2023.