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This report focuses on adult employees who were shown to be earning below the standard Federal Minimum Wage (FMW) in 2007-08. It considers explanations for why the data show there were adult employees earning below the FMW, including whether identifiable categories of employees fall into this group, and the extent this phenomenon is due to data problems. The period 2007-08 has been chosen for analysis as this is the most recent period for which these questions can be explored across a number of datasets. The three main data sources used for this report are the Survey of Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation (SEARS); the Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, as they give a wide range of relevant information at an individual and household level. The ABS Employee Earnings and Hours (EEH) survey, which includes information on the method by which pay is set, is another relevant data source. For this paper, we use data from 2007 and/or 2008 for each of the three main data sources, and data from 2006 for the EEH survey. Compared to all adult employees, the types of employees who were over-represented among those earning below (or just above) the FMW included: women; employees aged 21 to 24 or aged 65 and over; part-time employees; casual employees; employees in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, retail trade, accommodation and food services, administrative and support services, or other services; workers employed as labourers, sales workers, or community and personal service workers; employees with low educational attainment; employees in small businesses; employees working 60 hours or more; single people; and employees with children. These findings hold regardless of whether or not employees with multiple jobs are included in the samples, or whether or not earnings are adjusted for a casual loading. In conclusion, there is not sufficient evidence to indicate that the phenomenon of adult employees being measured as earning below the FMW was primarily due to data problems. Having said this, data issues should be kept in mind when examining employees at the lower end of the hourly wage distribution. There appears to be no single explanation for the phenomenon of below FMW employment; rather the evidence indicates it may be a combination of a number of factors. Show less

At head of title: Department of Employment, Education and Training. This is a report by a delegation which visited several institutions in six major cities in China with the aim of systematically studying the educational and vocational training programs in China in order to understand better the system, the qualifications and certificates awarded, the relationship between different institutions within the system and, where possible, to compare these awards, certificates and skills with Australian qualifications. Show less

This paper describes and analyses trends in the use of communications and information technologies and the impact these have on the education sector as a whole, but particularly the higher education sector. These technologies can be used to address the changing demands within the sector for: more flexible learning; extension of university services to national and international markets; and more cost effective delivery of higher education in an extremely competitive environment. A number of case studies have been chosen to illustrate significant developments in the use of information technology in tertiary education, including some examples from the vocational education and training sector and tertiary private providers. Show less

This publication reports on a study commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) to ascertain the current extent of online education in Australian universities. The main findings are presented under the headings of: Online courses; Online units; Online services and support and include: the majority of online courses are at a postgraduate level; the most prevalent form of online delivery was web supplemented; and, online access to web libraries is high. Show less