An error in the Jobkeeper application form has resulted in the reduction of workers covered by the scheme. The admitted error from the Federal Treasury revealed the estimated $130 billion dollar program is actually likely to cost $70 billion and only cover 3.5 million workers rather than 6 million.
The Australian Tax Office and the Federal Treasury discovered the error after careful analysis of the correlation between potential payments to businesses and the estimates of how many employees would be eligible for the scheme.
The mistake is purported to have come from businesses reporting how much financial assistance they expected to receive and not how many employees would be eligible.