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The [Australian Science and Technology Council] ASTEC Technological Change Committee is to maintain a continuing review of the processes and trends in technological change in Australia and elsewhere, and evaluate and report on the direct and indirect effects at the national level including social, economic and technological effects. Technological changes have had and will continue to have profound effects on both the levels and the nature of employment. The present report is an exploratory overview of recently observed effects. It presents for discussion issues, views and conclusions that have been identified or formulated by a variety of commentators from different sections of the community. The report identifies several areas where government action could assist in taking maximum advantage of technological change for the economy and the workforce. These include: support for innovation; education, training and re-training; consultation with employees and unions; and women’s employment. The recommendations made relate to problems that are already on the national agenda or which, with reasonable certainty, will be there in the near future.

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This report sets out a new direction for labour market policy in Australia. It is the outcome of the work undertaken by the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs chaired by Peter Kirby, formed in late 1983 in response to government concerns over the deterioration of the labour market since 1970, resulting in high levels of unemployment and a number of groups being disadvantaged in terms of access to employment, including women, young people, those with disabilities, and older workers. This final report documents the Committee’s examination of labour market policy and programs and the context in which they were developed and its recommendations for improvements. The Committee focused on the ‘fundamental philosophical, systemic and structural questions that needed to be resolved to develop a coherent framework for government intervention in the labour market’. The report’s recommendations were designed to foster a labour market policy which would give greater emphasis to the needs of the individual for access to education, training and other support to deal with a variety of labour market conditions. It is also advised that there be less centralisation of administration and more involvement of employers, unions, and community groups in planning, policy formulation and review. The most important recommendation, however, was the proposal for a new structured training system for young people. The Australian Traineeship System (ATS) was introduced in 1985 as the cornerstone of the Commonwealth Government’s Priority One Program for young people. Traineeships would combine broad-based vocational education and training (VET) in education and training institution with work in a related occupation to form an integrated training system. It was also intended that graduates of the scheme would have the opportunity to progress to more advanced areas of education, training or employment if they wanted to. Other labour market programs introduced in 1985-86 in response to the Committee’s recommendations were a general wage subsidy scheme, Jobstart, the adult training program and the community training program. The Committee also recommended changes to advisory structures for employment and training. The report covers current labour market programs and government structures for education, training and employment, approaches to labour market intervention, labour market planning, traineeships for youth, trade training, further training and retraining for adults, the rationalisation of wage subsidy programs, community based programs, and new arrangements for advice and administration.

The overview of the Kirby report and recommendations is indexed at TD/TNC 87.1160. Show less