New year to bring payment cuts for Wagga residents on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance

Wagga residents who received the supplement to JobSeeker Centrelink payments said it helped them cope with higher food prices and pay for bigger expenses such as their power bills.

Chris Arico, 29, said the unemployment payments should not go back to the pre-pandemic level, especially when there were signs that new coronavirus infections in Sydney would continue to damage the economy.

"The money helped out with power bills and rent and stuff like that. I'm working now but a lot of money back then was going to bills and rent," he said.

"It definitely made a difference for setting money aside for things that might pop up.

"I think [JobSeeker] just needed a raise in general because for a lot of people they are only living on 20 bucks a day or something like that. It's not a lot."

Norman McCoullough, 53, lost his job in tourism due to the pandemic and hopes to pick up new work before the extra payments stop completely in a few months' time.

"It made a lot of difference when the supermarkets were bare and prices were going up," he said.

Department of Social Services data suggests the financial impact will not be equal in the Riverina, with more than 10,700 people in its federal seat to receive a total $1.07 million per fortnight less from tomorrow.

Narrandera and Tumut had some of the highest rates of people on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance, at 7.1 and 6.7 per cent respectively, while Gundagai and Junee had some of the lowest at about 5 per cent.

The percentage of people with reduced payments varied across Wagga as well, ranging from between 11.1 per cent in Ashmont and central Wagga to 4.8 per cent in Gobbagombalin and Estella.

The extra unemployment payments brought in at the start of the pandemic will be reduced from an additional $250 down to $150 per fortnight after December 31 and will end completely by March 31 in 2021.

The supplement effectively doubled the previous Newstart Allowance unemployment payments to $1100 per fortnight at its peak from March to September last year.

Minister for Social Services Anne Ruston said the government "continues to stand side-by-side with Australians doing it tough as a result of COVID-19" and had allowed people to earn $300 per fortnight through work "without losing a cent of their social security".

"As the labour market improves we want to encourage people to re-engage with the workforce," she said.