Search Results

The Jobs and Skills Summit (the Summit) will bring together Australians, including unions, employers, civil society, and government, to discuss our shared economic challenges and propose both immediate and long-term solutions. The goal of the Summit is to find common ground on how Australia can build a bigger, better trained and more productive workforce; boost real wages and living standards; and create more opportunities for more Australians.

The Summit will cover five broad themes: (1) Maintaining full employment and growing productivity; (2) Boosting job security and wages; (3) Lifting participation and reducing barriers to employment; (4) Delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration; and (5) Maximising opportunities in the industries of the future. Throughout the Summit there will be a strong overarching focus on women's experiences of the labour market and ensuring women have equal opportunities and equal pay.

This Issues Paper outlines the labour market challenges associated with these five themes. It is intended to provide Summit participants and the broader community with a common understanding of these issues so that we can begin working towards solutions to our shared economic challenges and ensure the labour market delivers good outcomes for all. The Summit is the first stage in the process. Ideas raised at the Summit may also be explored further through the White Paper on Employment (the White Paper), which will map a comprehensive blueprint for Australia's future labour market.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

Amidst slowing economic growth, global labour markets have shown resilience in 2023. Global unemployment has dropped to the lowest level since the outbreak of the [COVID-19] pandemic and labour force participation has recovered in most regions. Despite these positive headline indicators, fragility has emerged in working conditions, and a cost-of-living crisis has arisen from fast-rising energy and food prices. Employment growth in 2024 is projected to falter even though global unemployment will remain broadly unchanged. Major decent work deficits, which to a large degree predate the pandemic, are set to persist under these conditions - especially gender participation gaps, working poverty, and informality.

This [report] provides a comprehensive assessment of labour imbalances that arose with the recovery from the pandemic and exist alongside persistent decent work deficits. It analyses global patterns, regional differences, and outcomes across groups of workers. The report also offers labour market projections for 2024 and 2025. Finally, it presents trends in labour force participation, hours worked and employment growth and analyses their contributions to labour market imbalances.

Excerpt from publication. Show less

Nurses are a vital and unique workforce in Australia with some important workforce characteristics. Nursing is a sex segregated and aging workforce: more than 90 per cent of nurses are women and the average age of female registered nurses is 45 and of male nurses 43 years. Almost half of the nursing workforce works part-time with the average hours worked also declining in the past decade. On average, female nurses work approximately 7 hours less than male nurses. Currently, across most Australian states there are severe shortages identified in the nursing workforce with efforts at both national and state levels in increased training opportunities and retention. The aim of this study was to explore how nursing families manage working and caring for their families. We were interested in how work and family decisions intersected and the ways in which nursing employment shaped and was shaped by family life. Participants in the study were heterosexual couples living in urban Victoria - Melbourne or Geelong. Each of the couples had one partner employed as a nurse and at least one child under 12. In depth couple interviews were conducted on domestic decision making, careers, working hours, childcare, domestic labour and support networks. The interviews were tape recorded and fully transcribed and analysed thematically. The research findings offer rich and nuanced information about work and family preferences and constraints for nurses in contemporary Australia.

Excerpt from executive summary. Show less

This brief discusses the transitions of rural women in and out of employment since the start of the global pandemic in response to changes in the household due to the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis. We postulate that these household changes, i.e. loss of employment by other household members, increase in household size, and increase in unpaid care work, affected women's exit and entry into employment. The key findings highlight the complex coping strategies at the household level where women's work - paid and unpaid - plays a critical role. This brief summarizes the paper Barcia de Mattos, Fernanda; Dasgupta, Sukti; Esquivel, Valeria; and Ghani, Sajid (2023), 'Push and pull factors and women's rural employment in India since COVID-19,' Review of agrarian studies, vol. 12, no. 2.

Published abstract. Show less

This report presents an in-depth cross-country analysis of how long-term care workers fare along the different dimensions of job quality. In the initial stages of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic, the applause for care workers was a clear expression of the strong recognition of their hard work and exposure to risks in their job. However, as the applause faded after the peak of the crisis, questions have re-emerged about how to improve the working conditions of long-term care workers in a sustainable way. Over the coming decades, the demand for these workers will increase substantially. Several countries are already facing shortages as the large baby-boom generation joins the older population.

To go 'beyond applause', a comprehensive policy strategy is needed to tackle poor working conditions and insufficient social recognition of long-term care work, attract workers in the sector and avoid labour shortages reaching unacceptable levels. Such a strategy should cover several dimensions, with different priorities across countries depending on their specific context, including: direct interventions to raise wages and increase staff requirements; increasing public financing and fostering the leading role by governments; supporting collective bargaining and social dialogue; strengthening training; increasing use of new technologies; and strengthening health prevention policies.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website. Show less

The Australian government response to skill shortages has been to raise net international migration levels and to boost training initiatives with a particular focus on apprenticeships for the industrial and building sectors. The authors of this report argue that an alternative source of highly educated labour is already at Australia's disposal and with the right set of policy options this pool of labour can be unlocked. Closing the gap between male and female employment rates would have important implications for the Australian economy. Recommendations are made as to how the government could achieve this. The report provides an overview of women in the Australian workforce, then discusses the economic benefits of lifting the female employment rate and the number of women in board and senior executive level positions, and the role of public policy. Further policy initiatives are proposed as a way of maximising the economic benefit from the female labour pool. Show less

Different policies are being promoted to increase the labour supply in ageing labour markets. This article presents the results of a large-scale survey carried out among Dutch employers into their management of the constraints presented by a tight labour market. Organizations take different measures in response to staff shortages, which can in fact be distinguished as four strategies. The first relates to the recruitment of new groups of workers: groups that traditionally were perhaps not a preferred choice. The principal measures in this strategy are the recruitment of women and ethnic workers, and to a lesser extent the elderly. The second strategy focused on increasing the labour supply of existing workers. Overtime, encouraging part-timers to work extra hours and a structural increase in the length of the working week were part of this strategy. The measures constituting the third strategy were of a different type. Generally, these measures were adopted in order to cope with temporary peaks. Work was outsourced, a recruitment agency used, and higher wages offered to try to fill a vacancy. The fourth strategy focused on substituting technology/capital for labour. Regression analyses is carried out to explain which strategies organizations use to deal with shortages.

Excerpt from publication. Show less

To remain competitive in technological growth and innovation, Europe must recruit and retain women for the fastest-growing tech roles of the foreseeable future.

European leaders looking to build competitive advantage and growth by addressing their technology gap should consider one fact: women occupy only 22 per cent of all tech roles across European companies. That's a stunning statistic at a time when technology underpins so much of the innovation and growth in the world today. Addressing this shortfall is about much more than doing the right thing; it's an economic necessity. While the spate of tech layoffs in the face of economic uncertainties ahead has caused companies to rethink their talent strategies, only 7 per cent of the layoffs have been in Europe, according to the State of European tech report for 2022, and the underlying economic fundamentals that rely on tech talent remain in place.

In fact, McKinsey analysis shows a tech talent gap of 1.4 million to 3.9 million people by 2027 for EU-27 countries. If Europe could double the share of women in the tech workforce to about 45 per cent, or an estimated 3.9 million additional women by 2027 - something we believe is possible - it could close this talent gap and benefit from a GDP increase of as much as €260 billion to €600 billion. To better understand why Europe struggles to find and retain tech-talented women, and to determine how best to address the issue, we undertook a detailed analysis of the entire development funnel in Europe, from primary school all the way to entering the workforce.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

Over the next 50 years, population aging will contribute to a dramatic decline in the European working age population. One important question for policy makers is to what extent an increase in labour force participation of migrants, their descendants, and women can compensate for the decline in labour supply. Thus it is relevant to know more about the factors which can encourage participation of these groups. In this report [the authors] examine the employment of second generation (children of immigrants) Turkish and young adult women from the majority population. [The authors] focus on the Turkish group since it is the largest single origin country group who also settled in different European countries allowing for examining differences among the second generation across countries of residence by using unique data allowing for this for the first time.

This report covers four European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden) in which the largest share of the total Turkish population in Europe live. [The authors] give special attention to the effect of motherhood on employment. [The] findings show that policy and institutions matter for the employment of all women in society, irrespective of migrant origin. Still, levels of employment are lower for the Turkish second generation compared to women from the majority group in all countries. Being a mother has a negative impact on employment, but [the authors] do not find this association to vary by origin. Furthermore [the authors] find clear differences across the countries studied but again these differences are similar for women of the majority population and those of Turkish origin. Although [the authors] are unable to pinpoint the exact policies and institutional arrangements it seems to be the case that these are related to policies across the life course starting from educational to family policies. Findings make clear that policymakers must give special attention to the unique economic position and potential of women in general and the growing share of children of immigrants among them, whose employment behaviours will be essential to bolstering the European labour force in the future.

Published abstract. Show less

Public infrastructure is defined as any structure that is owned by the government or that is developed for the public good. Public infrastructure draws on a range of workers and skills to support delivery from four main infrastructure-based occupational groups: project management professionals; engineers, scientists and architects; structures and civil trades and labour; and finishing trades and labour. Australia has ambitious plans when it comes to investing in public infrastructure. A skilled workforce that is available when required will be pivotal in realising these plans. The proposed rapid expansion of public infrastructure is testing the limits of existing capacity and capability. Signs of shortages are already prevalent across the workforce with demand anticipated to reach unprecedented levels, well beyond the sector's ability to service them. Projections show that at its projected peak in 2023 the infrastructure workforce will be 48 per cent short of demand, a deficit of 93,000 people.

Efforts to grow the workforce are compromised by a range of cultural, geographical, diversity and education issues that constrain the sectors' ability to rapidly grow its workforce. Migration cannot meet the gap alone, and border closures, limitations of visa programs and poor utilisation of existing migrants are additional constraints. As the gap between demand and supply grows, the importance of early action is perspicuous. Many proposed investments are in the early stages of planning, but continued investment without significant expansion of workforce supply risks compounding shortages already evident in the public infrastructure workforce, increasing the risks to delivery of this once in a generation investment pipeline in the years to come. Section 1 of this report provides an overview of the type of workforce needed to design, construct and maintain public infrastructure in Australia. Section 2 outlines the current public infrastructure workforce including the geographic distribution for each occupation category. Section 3 assesses pressures on the current public infrastructure workforce. Section 4 assesses the capacity and capability of the future public infrastructure workforce to meet predicted future workforce demand. Section 5 outlines the constraints to addressing Australia's looming infrastructure workforce shortage through mobilisation of existing workers and growth in new workers.

The initial Market Capacity Program report identifies potential resource challenges and risks from estimated demands from the Major Public Infrastructure Pipeline. The report provides an evidence base to increase understanding of the supply and demand of the skills and materials critical to the pipeline, and associated risks in planning and delivery, to support decision making, and help ensure value for money outcomes from our future infrastructure investments. The challenges and opportunities highlighted through this report underscore the importance of continuing to drive productivity and innovation across government and industry.

Excerpts from publications. Show less