News

News, media releases, opinions and articles from the Centre for Future Work.

Unemployment Rate Does Not Tell the Whole Story

Three days before the federal election, new ABS data confirmed that Australian wage growth is...

Real wages plummet and will take years to recover

The release of the March Wage Price Index confirms what a horror year it has...

Webinar: Changes to the SCHADS Award and Next Steps to Improve Job Quality in Human Services

The Fair Work Commission recently announced important changes to the SCHADS Award (which sets minimum...

More Resources on Australia’s Wages Crisis

The debate over wages, prices, and living standards heated up even further this week, with...

Real wages are shrinking, these figures put it beyond doubt

Every three months the Bureau of Statistics releases the lesser-known cousin of the consumer price...

One in Five Worked with COVID Symptoms; Sick Leave Entitlements Must Be Strengthened

Almost one in five Australians (and a higher proportion of young workers) acknowledge working with...

To really address housing affordability we need to think differently

The current election campaign has seen the two major parties put forward housing policies, both...

Real wages should rise – anything else means declining living standards

This week the election campaign has turned to discussion about the increase to the minimum...

Wages Will Continue to Lag Without Targeted Wage-Boosting Measures: New Report

A comprehensive review of Australian wage trends indicates that wage growth is likely to remain...

Why commentary that wages growing in line with inflation will drive up inflation is completely misguided

Today the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese was asked about wages in the following exchange: Journalist:...

Pandemic Workforce Crisis Requires TAFE Investment in Early Childhood Education to Boost Economy: Report

A new report has found pandemic workforce shortages should be tackled through investment in Early...

Rate rises are going to cause a housing affordability crunch

For most of the past decade the talk about housing affordability has focussed on house...

High inflation means real wages have plummeted

The March CPI figures showing that inflation rose 5.1% over the past 12 months is...

Free Undergraduate Education to Save Universities and Jobs: Report

The next federal government can save universities, make undergraduate education free for all Australians and...

The election campaign needs to tackle climate change

In the week before the election campaign began the IPCC released its latest report that...

We (still) need to talk about insecure work

Business groups and conservative media are happy to discuss insecure work as if it is...

The election campaign needs to be more than a quiz show

The election campaign thus far has been dominated with gotcha questions that unfortunately have missed...

Universal Public Early Child Education in Australia Would Pay For Itself: Research Report

Making Early Child Education and Care (ECEC) universal in Australia would pay for itself by...

House prices means interest rates do not need to rise much to inflict great costs

The more than a decade long period of the Reserve Bank going without raising interest...

A slap-dash budget revealing a government with no idea why it is in power

This year’s budget was transparently targeted towards the May election. But as Fiscal and Labour...

A short-term budget with no vision or coherency

The 2022-23 budget is one of the most shameless election year budgets in memory. With...

Alison Pennington: Budget billions wasted as real wages go backwards

The federal government’s budget would have us believe that the cost of living is a...

In next week’s budget watch out for the tax cut that won’t cut your tax

Next Tuesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver the 2022-23 budget. As it is only 2...

New Research: Australia’s Skills System Continues to Crumble After COVID

Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system shows growing signs of erosion, fragmentation and dysfunction,...