Addressing the health workforce crisis in the Pacific
Labour mobility is a significant contributor to Pacific Islands’ economies. Australia and New Zealand’s temporary labour migration schemes for Pacific workers have expanded into more industries including personal care work in aged care. This has led to the loss of skilled health workers from Pacific Island countries, including registered nurses, to lower-skilled personal care jobs…
Too much work and too few paid hours?
Widespread dissatisfaction with paid work hours, and employees working excessive unpaid overtime, are two of the key findings of the 2025 Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD) survey. The annual survey, undertaken by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute in early September, asked 1,001 Australian workers about their paid working hours and…
Australian Sovereignty and the Path to Peace – 2025 Laurie Carmichael Lecture
This year’s lecture was delivered by the Hon Doug Cameron, former NSW Senator, on September 10 in the Solidarity Hall at the Victorian Trades Hall Council. The Laurie Carmichael Lecture is an annual keynote lecture hosted by the Carmichael Centre, an initiative of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, in partnership with RMIT University’s…
Solving the crisis: Raising the living standards of Australian workers
Productivity might be the word on everyone’s lips in the lead up to the Albanese Government’s Economic Reform Roundtable, however weak productivity isn’t the cause of many of the problems experienced by workers in Australia today nor is increasing productivity the solution. Rapid inflation after the pandemic, combined with rising interest rates and slow wage…
Productivity in the Real World
Claims that Australia faces a productivity crisis are overblown. Weak productivity didn’t cause the current problems facing Australian workers (falling real wages, high interest rates, unaffordability of essentials like housing and energy). Nor will higher productivity fix these problems. Faith that higher productivity will automatically trickle down, to be shared by all workers, is unfounded….
The curious incident of low wages growth
A new Carmichael Centre report by David Peetz considers why wages growth has been so low, despite a tight labour market and a brief surge in inflation. Asking why has there been no wages explosion, Peetz finds the answer lies in loss of power. The report documents how workers have lost power in the past…
Working from Home, Not a Problem
More than one in three workers in Australia usually work from home at least some of the week. Working from home has become an established working arrangement for many employees in jobs where it is possible to work remotely. Yet, there is strong opposition from some employers to working from home and regular reports of…
The Continuing Irrelevance of Minimum Wages to Future Inflation
Updated analysis by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute reveals that a fair and appropriate increase to the minimum wage, and accompanying increases to award rates, would not have a significant effect on inflation. The analysis examines the correlation between minimum wage increases and inflation going back to 1990, and finds no…
Budget briefing paper 2025-2026
The Centre for Future Work’s research team has analysed the Commonwealth Government’s budget. As expected with a Federal election looming, the budget is not a horror one of austerity. However, the 2025-2026 budget is characterised by the absence of any significant initiatives. There is very little in this budget that is new other than the…
Briefing Paper: Restoring public sector capability through investment in public service employees
The Australian Public Service (APS) is responsible for delivering some of the most crucial social services to all Australians. The APS workforce includes employees who deliver frontline services like in Medicare and Centrelink, those who administer the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and those who assist service personnel and veterans via Veterans Affairs. These are…