The JobKeeper Payment was a wage subsidy and income support program delivered in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a key element of the Australian Government’s macroeconomic response to the global health and economic crisis.

This report presents the Australian Treasury's analysis on the first six months of the JobKeeper payment (to 27 September 2020), reflecting on the design and initial impacts of JobKeeper as a key element of the federal government’s macroeconomic response to COVID-19.The report draws on ongoing analysis undertaken by Treasury throughout 2020 and 2021 on JobKeeper and macroeconomic developments.

The report is divided  into five sections:

• Section 1 outlines the development of JobKeeper, including the economic and health context in which JobKeeper was developed, JobKeeper design features, and changes made to the policy over time.
• Section 2 provides updated summary program data on JobKeeper recipients.
• Section 3 provides analysis on the economic effect of JobKeeper.
• Section 4 discusses analysis on JobKeeper and business-level performance.
• Section 5 outlines future evaluation and audit activities planned for JobKeeper.