News, media releases, opinions and articles from the Centre for Future Work.
Rough times ahead for Australia’s economy as oil, gas and coal companies celebrate
The latest economic outlook from the OECD highlights the precarious path for Australia over the next few years. As Labour market and Fiscal Policy Director, Greg Jericho, notes in in his Guardian Australia column, the OECD predicts in both 2023 and 2024 Australia’s economy will grow by less than 2%. In the past such weak…
Australians Working 6 Weeks Unpaid Overtime, Costing Economy Over $92 Billion: Go Home on Time Day Report
New research shows Australian workers are on average working 6 weeks unpaid overtime per year, costing over $92 billion dollars in unpaid wages across the economy. The average worker is losing over $8,000 per year or $315 per fortnight due to what researchers have branded “time theft”.
Key Findin…
Wages growth improves but real wages fall at a record rate
The latest wages price index figures show that for the first time since 2013 wages grew by more than 3% in the past year. This growth is very welcome. It highlights that far from wages driving inflation, wage growth is only now beginning to grow at a pace that would be expected given the low…
Restoring Collective Bargaining Coverage Would Boost Wage Growth: Research Report
Proposed reforms to Australia’s industrial relations laws are likely to support higher coverage for collective bargaining in the national labour market, and provide a boost to stagnant wage growth according to new research from the Centre for Future Work.
The report reviews historical data on the…
Multi-Employer Bargaining Necessary for Fixing Wages Crisis
Proposed reforms to Commonwealth industrial relations laws would create more opportunities for collective bargaining to occur on a multi-employer basis, rather than being limited solely to individual workplaces or enterprises. Business groups have attacked this proposal as a dramatic change that would supposedly spark widespread work stoppages and industrial chaos. But as our Policy Director…
Gas companies are profiting off of human misery – we need a windfall profits tax
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine caused a massive surge in gas and LNG prices that have enabled gas companies around the world, including Australia to make record-level profits. But none of these profits have come from either management decisions or productive investments. The price rise has not come from any economic improvements. No, they have…