Expert Author

Alison Pennington

Alison-Pennington-2026

Alison Pennington is Chief Economist with The McKell Institute. She investigates economic and social issues facing Australia and working people, and is the author of the widely acclaimed Gen F’d? How Young Australians Can Reclaim Their Uncertain Futures.

Alison is a regular media commentator, with writing published in AFR, SMH, The Saturday Paper, and The Conversation. She is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Politics, Philosophy and Economics with La Trobe University, and a former Deputy Chief of Staff/Senior Advisor to Cabinet ministers in the Albanese federal government.

Alison has held previous roles with the Commonwealth Department of Finance, the Community and Public Sector Union, The Centre for Future Work with the Australia Institute, and public-school music teaching.

Research by Alison Pennington

On the brink: the erosion of enterprise agreement coverage in Australia’s private sector

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

By Alison Pennington

Turning ‘gigs’ into decent jobs: submission to the Inquiry into the Victorian On-Demand Workforce

What’s a ‘gig’ job, anyway? There’s lots of media hype about how people won’t have jobs in the future (they’re

By Jim Stanford, Alison Pennington

Workplace policy reform in New Zealand: what are the lessons for Australia?

Australia can learn much from the policy leadership of the Ardern Government in New Zealand and its reforms to address

By Alison Pennington

The future of work for Australian graduates

The Centre for Future Work has released a major new report documenting the new challenges faced by Australian university graduates

By Alison Pennington, Jim Stanford

Collective bargaining ‘reform’

Coalition leaders hardly mentioned industrial relations topics during the recent federal election campaign, but now that the party is back

By Alison Pennington

Gender inequality in Australia’s labour market: a factbook

While women have made some progress in closing the wage gap and other dimensions of gender inequality in Australia, they

By Alison Pennington, Jim Stanford

Working from home: opportunities and risks

With many regular workplaces shut down to ‘flatten the curve’ of COVID-19, millions of Australians are now shifting their work

By Alison Pennington, Jim Stanford

Log of extraordinary IR measures during COVID-19 shutdowns

COVID-19 containment measures have suspended large sections of the economy. Governments have committed over $220 billion in income supports to

By Alison Pennington

An investment in productivity and inclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in an era of unprecedented disruption and transition. Increased public investment in the skills and earning

By Alison Pennington

How non-union agreements suppress wage growth – and why the omnibus bill will lead to more of them

The federal government’s omnibus Industrial Relations bill proposes sweeping changes to labour laws which will generally enhance the power of

By Alison Pennington

Submission to Senate Inquiry into the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020

In December 2020, the Senate of Australia launched an important inquiry into the federal government’s proposed Fair Work Amendment Bill.

By Alison Pennington, Jim Stanford

Women’s casual job surge widens gender pay gap

New research shows Australia’s recovery from the pandemic recession has widened the gender pay gap.

By Alison Pennington

Creativity in crisis: rebooting Australia’s arts & entertainment sector after COVID

Culture is an inescapable part of what it means to be human. We can no more imagine a life without

By Alison Pennington, Ben Eltham

International COVID-19 income supports: an update

The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted global labour markets, and exposed long-standing gaps in social protection systems. Governments around the industrialised

By Alison Pennington, Jim Stanford

New international research exposes Australia’s missed wage-boosting opportunities

As collective bargaining erodes in Australia, solutions from other countries could strengthen bargaining and lift wages New research on international

By Alison Pennington, Andrew Dettmer, Andrew Scott, Jim Stanford

Fragmentation & photo-ops

The failures of Australian skills policy through COVID

By Alison Pennington

Budget Analysis 2022-23

The Commonwealth Government has tabled its budget for the 2022-23 financial year. As the nation emerges from two years of

By Greg Jericho, Mark Dean, Eliza Littleton, Fiona Macdonald, Dan Nahum, Alison Pennington, Lily Raynes, Jim Stanford