Jobless can't be choosers: PM

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says job seekers on unemployment benefits have no right to reject work just because they can't find their dream job.

Thousands of unemployed people under 30 will be forced to work for the dole from 2015 under the government's tough budget measures.

They will also be required to wait at least six months before getting welfare.

Mr Abbott said job seekers should not have the option of rejecting available jobs, because the alternative would be a life on welfare.

"People have no right to hold out for the job of their dreams while they are on unemployment benefits," he told reporters in Adelaide on Saturday.

He said they have to accept any job they can reasonably do that is offered to them.

"Frankly, that is the least that people should be prepared to do under those circumstances."

Welfare groups have raised concerns about the tough earn-or-learn measures, warning young people would resort to petty crime or end up living on the streets with the tightening of welfare.

Federal Labor said the reality for many young unemployed people would be bleak, questioning how they could cope without financial support.

"The government's answer is they have to live on nothing, what do they then do?" opposition finance spokesman Tony Burke told reporters in Sydney.