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Future Admin

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…

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December 10, 2025
Future Admin

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…

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November 19, 2025
Future Admin

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…

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August 13, 2025
Future Admin

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….

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July 28, 2025
Future Admin

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…

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April 10, 2025
Future Admin

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…

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April 4, 2025
Future Admin

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…

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March 26, 2025
Future Admin

Life Savers Without Life Savings

Firefighters and paramedics save lives, protect us from the ravages of fire, and ensure the sick and injured receive the medical treatment they need. However, after a working life protecting others, these emergency workers face substantial risk of having inadequate retirement incomes. Firefighters and paramedics are regularly compelled to retire early due to particular barriers…

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January 17, 2025
Future Admin

Submission to Industrial Relations Victoria Inquiry on Restricting Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases

It is generally reported that NDAs can benefit victim-survivors by providing anonymity and privacy where that is the victim-survivor’s choice. However, it is also reported that power imbalances between victim-survivors on the one hand and perpetrators and employers/organisation on the other have left workers feeling they had little choice but to sign NDAs. NDAs have…

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December 13, 2024
Future Admin

Economic Prosperity, Public Sector Restraint

By many measures, South Australia has enjoyed the strongest economy of any state in Australia. Its economic growth has been faster in recent years than any state – and in per capita terms, its prosperity has improved twice as fast as the national average. It enjoys a stable, diversified economic base: reflecting a virtuous combination…

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December 10, 2024
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