Medical practitioners also fear the planned reduction of a coronavirus supplement to $25 extra per week will have significant implications for the health of the city's most vulnerable.

The latest statistics for the Ballarat area reveal startling inequities in the way different parts of Ballarat depend on the JobSeeker and youth allowance payments - with unemployment and low wages dogging two areas of the city in particular.

The statistical districts - called SA2 areas by the Australian Bureau of Statistics - of Wendouree/ Miners Rest and Ballarat South rely on JobSeeker and youth allowance support almost 150 per cent more than more affluent areas.

At its peak in August, JobSeeker was being claimed by more than one in seven working age residents - those aged 15 to 65 - in both those areas.

Some hospitality owners have, however, advocated for a reduction in JobSeeker payments to encourage more people back into the workplace, with many saying it has been difficult to find staff.

For Michael Poulton, the chief executive of the Committee for Ballarat, the reduction to the JobSeeker will make it harder for Ballarat to evolve into a fairer place to live, saying one of the key aims of the organisation is to foster a thriving, more equal community.

"You can't have that when you have social disadvantage," he told The Courier. "The JobSeeker rate is too low as it condemns those on the margins to a standard of living that is below where they need to be to benefit from an inclusive society."

Lynne McLennan, the chief executive of UFS Dispensaries - the mutual non-profit organisation based in Ballarat - has also expressed her concerns about the cuts.

In March, a weekly coronavirus supplement of $225 was added to the standard payment as Newstart was rebranded as JobSeeker. The supplement was reduced to $125 weekly at the end of September 26, then to $75 in January. It will fall permanently to an extra $25 at the end of March.

"In 2020 our staff and health practitioners have seen first-hand the impact of the Coronavirus Supplement; our customers and patients on income support payments have been able to access health services when needed, rather than letting their health deteriorate to crisis point," she said in a press release calling for the government to reconsider the cut.

"We can't allow these people to fall back into poverty."

The number of people claiming JobSeeker surged across the city in the months that followed as businesses shuttered. Economists broadly agree that the supplement provided a crucial injection of cash, with the country's poorest spending the money rather than saving it.

The most recent numbers from January are running almost 40 per cent higher in Ballarat than they were in March last year. There were 6,771 claimants in the local government area in January, compared to 4,871 in March last year when the pandemic restrictions first took hold.

The overall local government area of Ballarat has a marginally higher reliance on the JobSeeker and youth allowance payments than in the rest of regional Victoria, which is in turn significantly higher than the entire Victorian average. The latest figures show regional Victoria tracking at about 9.5 per cent of working aged people claiming JobSeeker or the youth allowance compared to 7.6 per cent across Victoria as a whole.

The number of people claiming JobSeeker and the youth allowance peaked in August and remained at a similar level until November.

The Alfredton and Buninyong areas have consistently tracked lower than all of the other parts of Ballarat. Unsurprisingly both those areas also show a significantly higher level of income with a median wage of more than $50,000.

Wendouree and Miners Rest stands at $43,870 while Ballarat South is $42,567, the city's lowest.

The higher JobSeeker rate has been blamed by some hospitality and tourism businesses for a shortage in the labour force, a view that Mr Poulton said was "too simplistic".

Commerce Ballarat did not wish to comment publicly on the JobSeeker reduction.

According to one measure, even with the $25 weekly increase, Australia will be the second lowest of all the countries in the developed world in terms of unemployment benefit - including housing assistance - as a share of previous income, with only Greece behind.

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