Research // Employment & Unemployment
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Economics
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November 2024
Taking up the Right to Disconnect? Unsatisfactory Working Hours and Unpaid Overtime
This year marks the sixteenth annual Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD), an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, that shines a spotlight on the maldistribution of working hours and the scale of unpaid overtime worked by Australians. The Australian labour market has remained relatively strong over 2024 although interest
PALM visas, superannuation and tax
The Pacific-Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme is often presented as being beneficial to all parties—Australia, Pacific workers, and those workers’ home countries. In reality, the benefits are weighted in favour of Australia.
August 2024
No Blood – No Job
Organisations in Australia are using blood analysis as a means of screening future employees for ‘health risks’ that they allege may impact on their performance of work. Collecting sensitive information from blood analysis is restricted under Australia’s privacy laws. This is because the mishandling of this information can have a substantial detrimental impact on those
December 2023
A Better Future for Self-Employment
This report considers and challenges two common myths about self-employment.
November 2023
Jobs and Trees
Forestry represents just 1% of Tasmanian jobs and Tasmanian forestry production is largely based on plantation timber rather than native forest logging.
August 2023
The Tip of the Iceberg: Measuring unemployment in Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decisions on interest rate increases rely on the concept of balancing inflation and unemployment.
April 2023
Inclusive and Sustainable Employment for Jobseekers Experiencing Disadvantage
This report provides an overview of workplace and job-related factors found to act as barriers to sustainable and inclusive employment for people in groups likely to experience labour market disadvantage. Key findings are that job quality, working arrangements, inclusivity and opportunity for participation at work all matter for inclusive and sustainable employment, along with individual and external systemic and structural barriers to work.
December 2022
Polling – Perspectives on poverty
Between 4 and 7 October 2022, the Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,003 Australians about their understanding of the impact of poverty and their attitude to the appropriate level of income support. The results indicate an overwhelming majority of Australians support the principle that income support payments should keep people out of
April 2022
Youth unemployment and the pandemic
Young Australians have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Young people make up just 14% of the workforce but bore 55% of the job losses during the 2021 lockdowns. This crisis has compounded decades of high youth unemployment and underemployment. Now is the time for long-term policies to help and protect young people in
Bearing the Brunt
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated labour market problems for young people in NSW. By several measures, young people in NSW have been the hardest hit in Australia. There are a range of policies available to the NSW Government to address this crisis.
November 2019
Tolerate Unemployment, but Blame the Unemployed
For the last generation macroeconomic policy in Australia has been based on the assumption that unemployment must be maintained at a certain minimum level in order to restrain wages and prevent an outbreak of accelerating inflation. Now, after six years of record-low wage growth – which weakened even further in the latest ABS wage statistics – it is time for that policy to be abandoned.
August 2019
Unemployment and the Newstart Allowance
Australia’s Newstart benefit hasn’t been increased in real terms in a generation, and pressure is growing on the Commonwealth government to address this inequity and raise the rate. Even RBA Governor Philip Lowe has indicated that better Newstart benefits would stimulate consumer spending and support the economy.
March 2019
Polling – South Australia Policies for Jobs and Investment
New polling from The Australia Institute shows South Australians overwhelmingly think increasing funding for public services is a far more effective policy for encouraging jobs and economic growth than the SA Government’s land tax cut for property investors.
Australia’s Economy Heads Into Election on a Weak Note
The ABS has released what is likely the last quarterly GDP report before a Commonwealth election expected in May. Coalition leaders were hoping a strong report would underline their standard talking points about being the best “economic managers.” But they were badly disappointed.
January 2019
What’s a Million, Anyway?
In the lead-up to the 2013 federal election, then-Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made a high-profile pledge that a Coalition government, if elected, would create 1 million new jobs over the next five years. Abbott was elected (although later ousted by his own party), and total employment in Australia did indeed grow by over 1 million positions between 2013 and 2018. Current Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes that this success can resuscitate his party’s flagging fortunes: he has pledged, if elected, to create even more jobs (1.25 million) over the next five years.
May 2018
The Economic Importance of Public Services in Regional Communities in NSW
Public sector austerity has become a “policy fad” in Australia, at all levels of government. Its hallmarks are unnecessary public sector wage caps, outsourcing, downsizing, privatisation and the imposition of so-called “efficiency dividends” which allegedly drive productivity growth but in reality cut spending and reduce the quality of public services. These policies of austerity are
Remote control: The Community Development Program, remote Australia’s Work for the Dole scheme
The Community Development Program (CDP) is remote Australia’s Work for the Dole (WFD) and “job assistance” scheme. In place since 2015, it operates across almost 75 percent of Australia’s area, an area with a population of just 304,000 people. Indigenous people are over 80% of the CDP’s 34,000 participants. In other words, CDP participants are
February 2018
Braddon lags behind
In recent years, Tasmania has seen economic growth and development. However, the benefits have not been evenly distributed. Hobart has received the lion’s share with less going to the regions. This report focuses on the West & North West region of the state, an area that mostly overlaps with the electorate of Braddon. This electorate
September 2017
Tasmanian Jobs
The Australia Institute Tasmania and Unions Tasmania launched the inaugural Tasmanian Jobs Survey in June of this year. We invited Tasmanians to complete a survey about their employment status, their union membership (if any), their household budget and disposable income and how work affects their life. The survey began May 1st 2017 and ran until
June 2016
Unemployment in New England
New England is an electorate that has faced a rapidly rising unemployment rate over the last 3 years. It has seen unemployment rise 2.7% since the last election. Over the same period the national unemployment rate has risen 0.1%. The number of unemployed has increased by 2,094 since the last election. This rapid rise in
Queensland Unemployment by Electorate
While the national unemployment rate might be 5.7% this average unemployment hides important variations. The Australia Institute has assessed unemployment by regional variation by federal electorate using Department of Employment data. While the average unemployment rate in Queensland is 6.5% the unemployment rate varies across the electorates, from 4.4% in Maranoa to 10.5% in Hinkler.
Unemployment by Electorate – South Australia
While the national unemployment rate might be 5.7% this average unemployment hides important variations. The Australia Institute has assessed unemployment by regional variation by federal electorate using Department of Employment data. The average unemployment rate in South Australia is 6.8%, but the unemployment rate varies significantly across the state, from 5.0% in Boothby to 10.6%
March 2012
Job creator or job destroyer: An analysis of the mining boom in Queensland
On the back of record high commodity prices the mining industry in Australia is experiencing an unprecedented period of expansion. The value of our mineral exports has increased to the point where they now make up more than half of the value of all our exports. This increase combined with the huge inflow of capital
February 2001
Measuring Employment in the 21st Century: New measures of underemployment and overwork
The system of labour market statistics in Australia is in urgent need of reform. In addition to calling for the collection of new data on the desired amount of work for all workers, this report outlines the benefits of work sharing, and suggests mechanisms for achieving a fairer distribution of work.
June 2000
Avoiding Recessions and Australian Long-Term Unemployment
This paper examines the relationship between recessions and the size and duration of long-term unemployment. The results should leave us in no doubt that just a few poor years of economic growth have very significant medium-term implications for long-term unemployment.
September 1999
Public Expenditure on Services for Indigenous People: Education, Employment, Health and Housing
This study comprises a comprehensive assessment of public spending on education, employment, health and housing services for indigenous Australians compared with non-indigenous Australians. It shows that, contrary to claims made recently, public spending on programs for indigenous people is not excessive, and the advantages indigenous people gain from this expenditure are minuscule compared with the
October 1996
The Path to Full Employment: A talk to the ACOSS Congress
The increasing growth in Australian cannot be matched with employment. To counter oncoming large unemployment there needs to be a ‘work-sharing scheme.’ Such a scheme would allow more jobs and give workers more leisure time, thus solving the rise in unemployment.
June 1996
Redistributing Work: Solutions to the paradox of overwork and unemployment in Australia
At a time of high and chronic unemployment, Australia is also faced with a crisis of overwork. Work-related stress and illness have been intensifying while the social problems associated with mass unemployment multiply. There are a number of flexible work schemes operating or under negotiation in Australia, but so far they affect very few employees.