A Treasury review of JobKeeper, used during the COVID-19 years, says it saved between 300,000 and 800,000 jobs at a cost of around $88 billion.
The review says the scheme was implemented at incredible speed but ultimately delivered its aims.
“The review concludes that a claw-back system, suggested by some commentators, could have undermined confidence in the whole economy,” Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood said.
JobKeeper’s flat $1500 a fortnight payments also meant one in ten recipients were given more money than their pre-Covid wages.
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg tweeted over the weekend: “Facing the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, JobKeeper was a highly successful program saving lives and livelihoods.”