Working age, students and new parents · calculator
JobSeeker Payment calculator
Your fortnightly JobSeeker Payment after the income and assets tests, with Rent Assistance if you rent.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
JobSeeker Payment for a single adult without children is $824.90 a fortnight plus an Energy Supplement of $8.80, a total of $833.70 since 20 September 2026. It is paid from age 22 to Age Pension age to people looking for work or temporarily unable to work. You can earn $150 a fortnight without losing anything; between $150 and $256 each dollar costs 50 cents, and above $256 it costs 60 cents, so a single person earning $600 a fortnight still receives about $574.30. A single principal carer of a child loses only 40 cents per dollar. A partner's income above about $1,440 a fortnight reduces the payment by 60 cents per dollar, assets above the free area stop it, and private renters receive Rent Assistance on top. The calculator applies all of these.
JobSeeker Payment per fortnight
$754.30
Payment stops at about $1,557 of your own income a fortnight
| Basic rate | $824.90 |
| Energy Supplement | $8.80 |
| Rent Assistance | $0 |
| Reduction for your income | − $79.40 |
Basic rate, Energy Supplement and any Rent Assistance, less the income test. How this is worked out.
What the calculator takes into account
The maximum rate depends on your situation: single without children, single with a dependent child, single aged 55 or over after nine continuous months on payment, or partnered. The Energy Supplement is added, then Rent Assistance if you rent privately and have no children (with children, Rent Assistance comes through Family Tax Benefit instead). The income test is applied to that total: your own earnings first, then, for a couple, the partner's income above the partner income free area. Finally the assets test either lets the payment through or stops it entirely; there is no taper on assets for JobSeeker (Social Security Guide 4.2.3).
Earnings: what you keep
JobSeeker is assessed fortnight by fortnight on the income you report, so a fortnight with more shifts gives a smaller payment and a quiet fortnight a larger one. The tapers mean that work always adds to your total: earning $600 instead of nothing leaves you $341 better off for the fortnight, before tax. The income test guide has a table of earnings and payments, and explains the working credit that lets recipients keep more of the first wages after a period without work.
Assets
JobSeeker is not payable if your assets, excluding your home, are above $333,000 as a single homeowner or $600,000 as a single non-homeowner, or $499,000 and $766,000 for a couple. Assets include savings, shares, a second property, vehicles and contents at their market value, minus debts secured against them.
JobSeeker next to other payments
JobSeeker is an income support payment, so while it is paid, a family's Family Tax Benefit is worked out without the family income test. That link is often worth more than the JobSeeker itself for a family with children; the household calculator shows both together. Mutual obligation requirements, such as job search and activities in your Job Plan, apply unless you are exempt, and missing them can suspend the payment.