Webinar on Wages, Prices, and Power
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is sponsoring a series of webinars for union members, delegates, officials, and leaders on the current crisis in the cost of living in Australia. The surge in inflation since economic re-opening after COVID lockdowns has obviously intensified that crisis. But the seeds for it were planted long ago: by a decade of historically weak wage growth, a speculative property price bubble, and a systematic efforts to weaken collective bargaining and unionisation.
Jim Stanford (Economist and Director) and Greg Jericho (Policy Director, Labour Market and Fiscal) from the Centre for Future Work are providing keynote presentations as part of this series. Below is a recording of the first of these presentations, presented by Jim.
For other resources on inflation, how it is undermining real living standards for workers, and how to fix it (without throwing the whole economy into recession – an even bigger risk!), please see:
The Wages Crisis: Revisited (Centre for Future Work overview of falling real wages, by Andrew Stewart, Jim Stanford, and Tess Hardy)
An Economy That Works for People (ACTU Macroeconomics Discussion Paper)
“The Cure of Inflation Looks Worse than the Disease“ (latest Guardian Australia column by Greg Jericho)
Related research
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
Analysis: Will 2025 be a good or bad year for women workers in Australia?
In 2024 we saw some welcome developments for working women, led by government reforms. Benefits from these changes will continue in 2025. However, this year, technological, social and political changes may challenge working women’s economic security and threaten progress towards gender equality at work Here’s our list of five areas we think will impact on
Closing Loopholes Protections, Including Right to Disconnect, Come Into Effect 26 August
New labour rights coming into effect on 26 August, including the ‘Right to Disconnect’.
The 9 to 5 is back! Time to put the phone on silent
If you’ve ever flicked off an email before bed, texted your boss out of hours, or received an ‘urgent’ work call after clocking off, you’ll be glad to hear some respite is just around the corner. A new right to disconnect from work, for employees in businesses with 15 or more staff, comes into force