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In Australia, the average industry gender pay gap still stands around 17 per cent. The Australian workforce is highly gender segmented; women predominate in four or five industries and occupations. Women are more likely to be employed in low paying jobs with little or no career pathways. They are more likely to be employed as casuals and part time workers. They are more likely to have interrupted work patterns and breaks in their paid employment. The Committee inquired into and reported on the causes of any potential disadvantages in relation to women’s participation in the workforce including, but not limited to: (1) the adequacy of current data to reliably monitor employment changes that may impact on pay equity issues; (2) the need for education and information among employers, employees and trade unions in relation to pay equity issues; (3) current structural arrangements in the negotiation of wages that may impact disproportionately on women; (4) the adequacy of recent and current equal remuneration provisions in state and federal workplace relations legislation; (5) the adequacy of current arrangements to ensure fair access to training and promotion for women who have taken maternity leave and/or returned to work part time and/or sought flexible work hours; and (6) the need for further legislative reform to address pay equity in Australia. The report sets out a scheme to act to close the gender pay gap. It includes proposed amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009, greater powers for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner to act on wage discrimination and the establishment of a specialist Pay Equity Unit within Fair Work Australia with a broad mandate for change.

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This qualitative and quantitative survey examines the drivers of the gender pay gap and the static low participation of women in the professional mining work force, and proposes solutions to overcome the underlying issues. The survey was completed by approximately 700 professionals in the minerals sector, of whom 68 per cent were female. Following analysis, issues affecting equitable participation were identified and grouped into three main categories, with solutions proposed to address each category: (1) issues that affect females particularly (regardless of caring responsibilities); (2) issues that affect people with caring responsibilities (both males and females); and (3) issues that affect people in roles that employ 'softer' skills (both males and females). Show less

This compendium provides data from the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) conducted in 2001 by Statistics Canada with the support of Human Resources Development Canada. [This edition] provides tables based on selected sections of the WES questionnaires. These are intended to stimulate cross-sectional, longitudinal and linked analyses by practitioners and researchers alike. Although the survey is primarily designed to stimulate research involving multivariate and linked analyses of the matched employer-employee data, the approach herein adopted is descriptive in nature. This publication pursues a threefold objective: first, to provide a snapshot of Canadian workplaces and their employees in 2001; second, to show some of the changes occurring in these workplaces and their employees; and third, to emphasize the linked nature of the WES data.

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This paper examines how employees’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, work have changed over the last quarter of a century. It assesses the extent to which any developments relate to the economic cycle and to trends in the composition of the British workforce. Many of the findings are broadly positive, particularly when compared with a picture of deterioration in the late 1980s and 1990s. The onset of a major recession in the late 2000s might have been expected to herald a fundamental shift in employees’ attitudes to paid work and their working environment. The impression at the time of writing is, instead, of a more muted reaction than was seen in the early 1990s - in keeping with the more muted impact of the current recession on the labour market as a whole.

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On 3 August 2022, the Senate resolved to establish a Select Committee on Work and Care to inquire into and report on: (a) the extent and nature of the combination of work and care across Australia and the impact of changes in demographic and labour force patterns on work-care arrangements in recent decades; (b) the impact of combining various types of work and care (including of children, the aged, those with disability) upon the well-being of workers, carers and those they care for; (c) the adequacy of workplace laws in relation to work and care and proposals for reform; (d) the adequacy of current work and care supports, systems, legislation and other relevant policies across Australian workplaces and society; (e) consideration of the impact on work and care of different hours and conditions of work, job security, work flexibility and related workplace arrangements; (f) the impact and lessons arising from the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis for Australia's system of work and care; (g) consideration of gendered, regional and socio-economic differences in experience and in potential responses including for First Nations working carers, and potential workers; (h) consideration of differences in experience of disabled people, workers who support them, and those who undertake informal caring roles; (i) consideration of the policies, practices and support services that have been most effective in supporting the combination of work and care in Australia, and overseas; and (j) any related matters. The interim report includes: the current work and care settings in Australia; balancing work and care in the paid care system; income support around work and care; workplace relations and the legal system; immediate issues and recommendations, and committee views.

The committee recommends that: (1) as a matter of priority, the Australian Government include new questions in the Census and/or new regular surveys of a representative group of workers to determine the extent, nature and effects of the interaction of work and care responsibilities across Australia; (2) the Australian Government develop an analysis of care work classifications and wage structures to systematically address underpayments and lift wages in the care sector; (3) the Australian Government amend the 'Fair Work Act 2009' to: make the right to request flexible work available to all workers, replace the 'reasonable business grounds' provision, introduce a positive duty on employers to reasonably accommodate flexible working arrangements, require consultation with workers about flexibility requests, and introduce a process of appeal to the Fair Work Commission; (4) the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations investigate legislative reforms to the 'Fair Work Act 2009' and any other associated workplace laws, to enact a 'right to disconnect' from work; (5) the Australian Government amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to provide improved rostering rights for employees, and in particular working carers; (6) the Australian Government amend, as soon as is practicable, the 'Paid Parental Leave Act 2010' to legislate for a paid parental leave period of 26 weeks; (7) in the upcoming 2022-23 Budget, the Australian Government commits to long-term increases in funding to First Nations community-controlled Early Childhood Education and Care; and (8) the Australian Government amend the relevant Social Policy and Family Assistance Laws to ensure that First Nations people are not required to meet the requirements of the activity test in order to receive subsidised child care.

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This paper for the Jobs and Skills Summit outlines a policy agenda to achieve, sustain, and make the most of full employment in Australia. This has a different meaning today to the early 1970s. Now it is as much about adequate, regular hours of employment and steady growth in real incomes as keeping unemployment low. At its heart it means that people seeking employment or more paid hours can find them, and the pay and the quality of those jobs improves so that the fruits of economic growth are more fairly shared and no one is left behind. Once we commit to full employment, a range of policy implications follow. Some policies are needed to achieve and sustain full employment, others are needed to realise the benefits of full employment. We put forward to the Summit the following high-level policy proposals. We also propose new advisory structures to carry the full employment policy agenda forward and promote and sustain cooperation across government and with business, unions and civil society.

The key priorities include: A shared commitment to full employment, and fairer ways to deal with inflationary pressures and labour and skills shortages; A shared commitment to prevent and reduce long-term unemployment; Reform employment services; Raise JobSeeker and related income support payments; Strategic workforce planning at national, industry and regional levels led by Jobs and Skills Australia; Immigration policies that prioritise skilled and permanent migration, and that protect temporary visa holders in entry-level jobs; Restore sustainable growth in real wage; Lift minimum wages and establish a legislative link between growth in wages and Jobseeker Payments; Promote pay equity for women; Promote a robust care sector with quality jobs and services; Support the community services sector.

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The rise of contractor work, coordinated through digital platforms, has become one of the defining trends in the world of work over the past decade. From accountancy to food delivery, the seemingly inexorable rise of such work arrangements has been broadly seen as both a symptom, and a causal factor, of declining worker power. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was created with the involvement of people with disabilities, their families, support workers and carers to be a transformative social insurance program, fully funded by government. Its intention is to provide people with disabilities with personalised care and support, controlled by the user, that will enable them to live securely and safely, and to participate fully in society. Within the NDIS market for care and support there are several companies operating as digital contractor marketplaces, with an operating model similar to that of Uber or Deliveroo. In such markets, disability support workers can, without registering with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, offer care and support services as sole traders. The digital contactor marketplaces then take a cut of the income received by the digital contractor, but without providing any of the legal supports that a traditional employer would provide, such as quality and safety guarantees for either the worker or the NDIS participant.

This report examines some of the potential consequences of these emerging trends in employment arrangements in the disability care labour market. We discuss the implications of digital contractor marketplaces on (1) NDIS participants, (2) NDIS workers, and (3) the market for care and support as a whole. Case studies interspersed throughout the report represent real issues experienced by NDIS participants and carers. While some may benefit from the increased flexibility that such work arrangements provide, moving from an employment to a self-employed status comes with considerable risks. The potential hazards of the digital contractor model for workers appear consistent across many industries: lower income security, more complex administrative requirements, fewer training and peer-to-peer support opportunities, higher personal liability risks, and fewer social protections like sick pay, parental leave and superannuation contributions. Participants, workers, and the viability of the care and support market as a whole are at risk from the structure, features and outcomes that such work arrangements tend to exhibit.

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The Legislative Council established a Select Committee in October 2018 to inquire into and report on wage theft in South Australia with particular reference to: (a) the prevalence and incidence of wage theft in South Australia, with acknowledgement to evidence of wage theft from other parts of Australia; (b) the impact of wage theft on workers, families, law-abiding businesses, the economy and community; (c) the various forms that wage theft can take, including through unpaid superannuation and any other statutory entitlements, the misuse of [Australian Business Numbers] ABNs and sham contracting arrangements; (d) the reasons why wage theft is occurring, including whether the current regulatory framework and practises are effective for deterrence; (e) the sectors in which wage theft is prevalent, including industries, occupations, parts of the state, or among cohorts of workers; (f) the effectiveness of the current regulatory framework at State and Federal level in dealing with wage theft and supporting affected workers, including whether conditions preventing prosecution of white collar fraud are fundamental towards supporting the legality of wage theft; (g) measures to ensure support services are in place to guarantee accessible and cost-effective justice to expedite claims; (h) options for ensuring wage theft is eradicated, including consideration of regulatory and other measures either implemented or proposed in other jurisdictions interstate, nationally or internationally and the role of industrial organisations, including unions and employer registered bodies in addressing and preventing wage theft; and (i) any other related matter.

The interim report, tabled on 21 July 2020, revealed widespread exploitation of workers who had been deprived of wages, superannuation and other entitlements, those who were subject to intimidation, loss of employment and, for some, their visa status, leading to deportation. Wage theft was found to be pervasive across South Australia among vulnerable cohorts of workers, especially those in non-union, casualised, insecure work. Effectively wage theft has become the basis of a business model. With restrictions related to [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 in place, the Committee determined to consider the impact of these economic measures on work conditions in the community and to appraise the intersection of slavery and slavery-like practices and wage theft. Accordingly, on 3 June 2020, the terms of reference were amended to include: (ha) the impact of COVID-19 economic measures on work practices; and (hb) the intersection of slavery and slavery-like practices with wage theft to establish the depths of human trafficking in South Australia.

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In this working paper, the author estimates and compares both wage and productivity effects with panel data in order to analyse who gains from investment in training. Using panel data at the industry level from 1996-2002, the impact of continuing training on wages and productivity in a Cobb-Douglas production framework is analysed. The use of system GMM techniques enables endogeneity and time invariant unobserved factors to be taken into account. The results suggest that the ‘training rent’ is shared between employer and employee due to a positive effect of continuing training on both wages and productivity. The effect on productivity is about three times higher than the one on wages. High skilled workers benefit from a larger share of the rent than low skilled workers. Show less

The main purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how the amount of firm-sponsored continuing vocational training (CVT) provided in Sweden from 1999 onwards was influenced by institutional conditions. The Swedish labour market is characterised by a relatively large amount of publicly subsidised CVT. How this affects the incidence of firm-sponsored CVT ultimately depends on whether publicly financed training is a substitute for, a complement to, or is independent from, company training. Recent Swedish research and descriptive data suggest that elements of all three cases exist. If the two were complements, the phenomenon of underinvestment in CVT - which is frequently considered to exist - would be attenuated by the provision of publicly financed CVT. Support for this view hinges on the notion that public CVT evens out human capital accumulation within the labour force, that this in turn contributes to a compressed wage structure and that compressed wages have a positive influence on the provision of firm-sponsored CVT.

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