Media
October 2020
Austerity Would Damage Queensland’s Economic and Social Recovery
by Dan Nahum & Jim Stanford[Originally published via Medium, 26 Oct 2020] Like governments around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession knocked a huge hole in Queensland’s state budget. Big losses in revenues from the recession, combined with extra costs of fighting the pandemic, turned a planned $234 million operating surplus for this
July 2020
Winning a Fair Share: Rebuilding Australia’s Manufacturing Base | Paul Bastian & Jim Stanford
As the pandemic interrupted global supply chains a lot of focus has shifted back onto Australia’s domestic manufacturing capabilities and what Australia has the capacity to make and manufacture onshore and research shows we’re lagging behind. In this episode we talk about the opportunities for manufacturing and why it’s vital to the economic success of
June 2020
Protecting workers as the Economy Re-Opens with Sally McManus
The pandemic exposed a lot of the problems with our labour market, including the risks of the rise of precarious and insecure work. Today we’re bringing you another guest from our ‘Economics of a Pandemic’ webinar series: Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in conversation with Jim Stanford, economist and director
May 2020
A renewably powered manufacturing sector with Ross Garnaut
Today’s episode is from one of our ‘Economics of a pandemic’ webinar series, featuring Professor Ross Garnaut, renowned economist and author of Superpower: Australia’s Low-Carbon Opportunity.Professor Garnaut was in conversation with economist and director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, Jim Stanford, and Dan Nahum – economist at the Centre for Future Work
April 2019
The Wages Crisis
Why is Australia in the midst of a wages crisis? In this episode, Follow the Money explains how we got here. Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director at The Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Contributors: Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work // @jimbostanford Troy Henderson, economist at the Centre for Future Work // @troychenderson Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey // Additional
January 2019
Job Creation Record Contradicts Tax-Cut Ideology
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its detailed biennial survey of employment arrangements this week (Catalogue 6306.0, “Employee Earnings and Hours“). Once every two years, it takes a deeper dive into various aspects of work life. Buried deep in the dozens of statistical tables was a very surprising breakdown of employment by size of workplace.
The REAL Diary of an Uber Driver
ABC recently announced plans for a new 6-part television drama called “Diary of an Uber Driver.” The Centre for Future Work’s Director Jim Stanford wonders if this drama will truly constitute insightful drama – or whether it will serve to whitewash the labour practices of a controversial, exploitive industry. A version of this commentary originally
December 2018
New Video: Australia Needs a Pay Rise!
Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, was recently featured in a new video produced in collaboration with United Voice and the Flip production company. The video highlights the problems of wage stagnation in Australia’s economy, and the need to “Change the Rules” – including proposals for sector-wide collective bargaining practices, especially important
The Year Past, and the Year to Come
Workforce (a labour relations bulletin published by Thomson-Reuters) recently surveyed major IR figures in Australia on what they saw as the big issues in 2018, and what they expect as the major talking points for 2019. Jim Stanford, economist and Centre for Future Work director, was one of those surveyed, and here are his remarks. What
November 2018
New Book: The Wages Crisis in Australia
THE WAGES CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT Edited by Andrew Stewart, Jim Stanford, and Tess Hardy (University of Adelaide Press) Australian wage growth has decelerated in recent years to the slowest sustained pace since the 1930s. Nominal wages have grown very slowly since 2012; average real wages (after
October 2018
“Permanent Casuals,” and Other Oxymorons
Recent legal decisions are starting to challenge the right of employers to deploy workers in “casual” positions on an essentially permanent basis. For example, the Federal Court recently ruled that a labour-hire mine driver who worked regular shifts for years was still entitled to annual leave, even though he was supposedly hired as a “casual.”
July 2018
Possibly Surprising Insights on the Future of Work
Trade unionists are gathering this week at the ACTU’s triennial Congress in Brisbane. Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, participated in a panel on the Future of Work (an apt title!) at the Congress. His presentation was “5 Possibly Surprising Insights on the Future of Work”. More detail on the issues raised
June 2018
The Dimensions of Insecure Work in Australia
Less than half of employed Australians now hold a “standard” job: that is, a permanent full-time paid job with leave entitlements. That’s the startling finding of a new report on the growing insecurity of work published by the Centre for Future Work. Share of Workers in Full-Time Paid Employment with Leave Entitlements Source: Centre for
Insecure work: The New Normal
Most Australians know in their guts that it’s pretty hard to find a traditional permanent job these days. And now the statistics confirm it: less than half of employed Australians have one of those “standard” jobs. And more than half experience one or more dimensions of insecurity: including part-time, irregular, casual, contractor, and marginally self-employed
May 2018
A Comprehensive and Realistic Strategy for More and Better Jobs
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has released a major policy paper outlining an ambitious, multi-faceted program to address the chronic shortage of work, and the steady erosion of job quality, in Australia. The full paper, Jobs You Can Count On, is available on the ACTU’s website. It contains specific proposals to stimulate much stronger
April 2018
Wages Crisis Has Obvious Solutions
Mainstream economists and conservative political leaders profess “surprise” at the historically slow pace of wage growth in Australia’s labour market. They claim that wages will start growing faster soon, in response to the normal “laws of supply and demand.” This view ignores the importance of institutional and regulatory factors in determining wages and income distribution.
March 2018
The Difference Between Trade and ‘Free Trade’
U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent trade policies (including tariffs on steel and aluminium that could affect Australian exports) have raised fears of a worldwide slide into protectionism and trade conflict. Trump’s approach has been widely and legitimately criticised. But his argument that many U.S. workers have been hurt by the operation of current free trade
November 2017
October 2017
February 2017
Employers’ pyrrhic penalty rates win reflects self-defeating economics
The Fair Work Commission unveiled its long-awaited decision on penalty rates for Sunday and holiday work this week. Penalty rates for most retail and hospitality workers will be cut, by up to 50 percentage points of the base wage. Hardest hit will be retail employees: their wages on Sundays will fall by $10 an hour
December 2016
What Does The ABCC Have To Do With House Prices?
House prices – what is to blame? Our economists look at the claim from the Prime Minister that the ABCC was needed to stop ‘union thugs’ pushing up house prices. They also look at the tax breaks for investors. No prizes for guessing what the evidence shows is actually effecting house prices. Contributors: Jim Stanford
October 2016
Denying The Downside Of Globalization Won’t Stop Populism
The rise of anti-globalization sentiment, including in Australia, poses a big challenge to mainstream politicians who’ve been trumpeting the virtues of free trade for decades. [This article was first published by the Huffington Post – here] Treasurer Scott Morrison recently started pushing back, delivering a staunch defense of globalization to an audience in Sydney. Like other world
August 2016
The Flawed Economics of Cutting Penalty Rates
It was a “sleeper” issue in the recent election, and led to the defeat of some high-profile Liberal candidates. But now the debate over penalty rates for work on weekends and public holidays shifts to the Fair Work Commission. The economic arguments in favour of cutting penalties (as advocated by lobbyists for the retail and
May 2016
Bracket Creep Is A Phoney Menace
This piece first appeared in New Matilda. For someone who piously bemoans an “us versus them” mentality in political culture, Treasurer Scott Morrison certainly drove a deep wedge into the social fabric with one of the centrepieces of his budget. There are four thresholds in the personal income tax system; Morrison chose to increase one
6 Reasons to Be Skeptical of Debt-Phobia
In the lead-up to tomorrow’s pre-election Commonwealth budget, much has been written about the need to quickly eliminate the government’s deficit, and reduce its accumulated debt. The standard shibboleths are being liberally invoked: government must face hard truths and learn to live within its means; government must balance its budget (just like households do); debt-raters
April 2016
State Income Taxes Would Promote Inequality and Debt
The latest “big idea” on tax policy from the Coalition government is to grant independent income tax powers to the states. This would be accompanied by a devolution of funding responsibility for big-ticket services like health care, hospitals, and schools. Prime Minister Turnbull argues that forcing state governments to raise the money they spend will
March 2016
Company Tax Cuts: A Cautionary Tale from Canada
This piece was first published in New Matilda. Was it really the Treasury’s economic modeling that convinced Prime Minister Turnbull to abandon his plan to raise the GST and cut income taxes? Treasury simulations indicated the trade-off would have no significant impact on growth. Or perhaps it was another kind of calculation – electoral –