Australia’s enterprise bargaining system is crumbling rapidly in private sector workplaces, according to dramatic findings from the Centre for Future Work.

New data on private-sector business conditions confirm that wage increases paid in the private sector of Australia’s economy continue to plumb record lows. The ABS’s quarterly Business Indicators report, released yesterday, indicates total wages and salaries paid out by private businesses grew 4.3 percent in the September quarter, compared to year-earlier levels. This only slightly

Each year the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute conducts a public survey of Australian working hours, as part of our annual “Go Home on Time Day” (GHOTD) initiative. Findings from the survey regarding hours worked, preferences for more or less hours, and the incidence of unpaid overtime are reported in a companion study.

2018 marks the tenth annual Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD), an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute that shines a spotlight on overwork among Australians, including excessive overtime that is often unpaid. Over many years, the Centre for Future Work and the Australia Institute have commissioned regular annual opinion polls

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia.

Key Findings:  High-income households and Liberal held electorates are the biggest beneficiaries of negative gearing. Key Findings:Negative gearing primarily benefits high income households Young are the biggest losers from negative gearing Liberal held electorates the biggest winners fromnegative gearing [READ REPORT]

The Royal Commission into the financial services industry has heard tens of thousands of incidents of financial misconduct. The problem is clearly not just a “few bad apples”; the problem is clearly rooted in the core structure and practice of this industry.

Tasmania’s shellfish aquaculture and commercial wild-catch fisheries are responsible for 8,400 tonnes of production each year, with a gross value of $209 million. Between them, these sectors employ between 1,091 and 1,310 people across all four of Tasmania’s regions. The distribution of fishing and aquaculture jobs varies across Tasmania’s four regions. Offshore caged aquaculture (the

The Revenue Summit is a special initiative of The Australia Institute that discussed the need to increase public spending to strengthen our economy and society, and how to raise public revenue efficiently and equitably. Tax is the price we pay to live in a civilised society, but in contemporary Australia, we rarely ask how much

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,449 Australians about income inequality and income taxation. Overall most respondents agreed with principles of progressive taxation and disagreed that income tax in Australia should be made less progressive. Key Results: + 74% of respondents agreed that if the gap between high and low incomes grows,

Introduction The debate in Australia about the Federal Government’s Budget has too often focused on what spending will get cut to fund what tax cuts. Australia has also obsessed which Treasurer will deliver a budget surplus in which year. What has been lost in this simplistic debate is that tax is the price we pay

A special 6-part series of short articles from WA Transport Magazine: Researchers have identified the transportation industry as one of the sectors likely to be most affected by the coming implementation of new technologies: such as self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence, and automated logistics systems. How will transportation workers fare as these technologies are rolled out, and

Most housing subsidies end up increasing landlord and developer profits rather than reducing costs for residents. However, Public Land Rent Schemes that provide discounted land access to owners, and private Community Land Trusts, are proven ways to ensure that subsidies reduce costs for homeowners. This report explores how to get cheap, secure, housing without inflating landlord profits.

The unprecedented insecurity of work in Australia’s economy – with the labour market buffeted by technology, globalisation, and new digital business models – has sparked big thinking about policies for addressing this insecurity and enhancing the incomes and well-being of working people. Two ideas which have generated much discussion and debate are proposals for a

The share of total economic output in Australia that is paid to workers (in the form of wages, salaries, and superannuation contributions) has been declining for decades. Workers produce more real output with each hour of labour (thanks to ongoing efficiency improvements and productivity growth), but growth in real wages has been much slower –

Australia’s commitment under the Paris climate agreement is to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. With the announcement of the National Energy Guarantee the government has required the electricity sector to reduce its emissions by 26 per cent. This implies other sectors such as agriculture will also

Development of the Galilee Basin would displace production in other coal regions. Galilee mines would be more automated and less job-intensive than existing mines. Based on coal industry analysis, central estimates of employment reduction are 9,100 in the Hunter Valley, 2,000 in the Bowen Basin & 1,400 in the Surat Basin compared to a no-Galilee