News, media releases, opinions and articles from the Centre for Future Work.
Of 3’s, and Other Important Labour Market Numbers
Will an unemployment rate with a 3 in front it, ensure that we also get wage growth with a 3 in front of it? Don’t count on it. Prime Minister Scott Morrison set tongues wagging this week with a confident pledge that Australia’s unemployment rate could have “a 3 in front of it” this year….
Centre for Future Work Announces Two Senior Appointments
Greg Jericho will join the Centre on 1 February as Policy Director: Labour Market and Fiscal. Greg is an economist and well-known columnist for The Guardian in Australia; he currently teaches at the University of Canberra. He will continue writing his Guardian column, while overseeing new research projects for the Centre on issues of employment,…
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Labour Market Implications of Australia’s Failed COVID Strategy
As COVID and recession gripped the world, through 2020 and most of 2021 Australia recorded one of the best outcomes: lower infection, fewer deaths, and a faster, stronger economic recovery. That seeming victory has been squandered, however by the appalling and infuriating events of recent weeks. Purportedly in the name of ‘protecting the economy’, key…
Healthy humans drive the economy: we’re now witnessing one of the worst public policy failures in Australia’s history
Australians are getting a stark reminder about how value is actually created in an economy, and how supply chains truly work. Ask chief executives where value comes from and they will credit their own smart decisions that inflate shareholder wealth. Ask logistics experts how supply chains work and they will wax eloquent about ports, terminals…
As collective bargaining erodes in Australia, solutions from other countries could strengthen bargaining and lift wages
New research on international collective bargaining systems finds that Australia’s industrial relations system is rapidly losing its ability to support wages in the face of numerous challenges.
Key findings:
The Ardern government in New Zealand has implemented a new sector-wide bargaining system …
Victorian Rate Cap Policy Costs Economy Over 7,000 jobs and $890 million to GDP
The Victorian State Government’s policy to cap the rates of local government has cost the Victorian economy 7,425 direct and indirect jobs in 2021-22, and has reduced GDP by up to $890 million in 2021-22, according to new research from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work.
Key Finding…