News, media releases, opinions and articles from the Centre for Future Work.
Workplace Law Reform Must Limit Cancer of ‘Gig Work’ in Care Economy: Research
New research reveals the growth of ‘gig’ employment in the NDIS and care sector is undermining minimum employment conditions for tens of thousands of workers, with thousands of workers likely earning below-award wages, missing out on superannuation and experiencing inferior WHS protections and ge…
Profit-Price Spiral an Inconvenient Truth for Big Business: Economists
Despite a mainstream shift in the national conversation away from baseless claims of a “wage-price spiral”, some big business proponents and conservative economists appear unwilling to accept the economic evidence of a profit-price spiral.
Key Points:
Real wages fell 4.5% in 2022, the largest dr…
Real wages falls and interest rates rises signal tough times for households and the economy
You can’t sustain household spending while real wages continue to fall, and households are starting to let everyone know The Australian economy – like all economies – is about people. And yet too often company profits are used as a judge of economic health. Throughout the pandemic and in the years since, company profits have…
Wages are growing solidly but real wages continue to plummet
Wages are growing the best they have for 11 years, but real wages are now back at the level they were 14 years ago The good news of the strongest wages growth since 2012, writes policy director Greg Jericho, in his Guardian Australia column, is tempered by the fact that real wages have fallen back…
Don’t worry about a budget surplus, worry about a slowing economy
Rather than be a budget that will fuel inflation, the budget is actually closer to austerity than stimulation The Budget announced this week by Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed a projected surplus in 2022-23 before returning to a deficit in the future years. In response many commentators and economists have suggested that the budget is therefore…
Affordability of a Liveable Jobseeker Payment is a Non-Issue
In the lead-up to its 2023-24 budget, the Labor Government finds itself in an awkward position, accepting that the Jobseeker payment is “seriously inadequate” and an impediment to regaining work, yet professing that it lacks the financial capacity to afford a meaningful increase anytime soon.
The…