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This inquiry was established on 28 May 2020 to inquire into and report on the future development of the New South Wales (NSW) tertiary education sector. The Department of Education considers that the term 'tertiary education' includes universities, non-university higher education providers, and vocational education and training (VET) providers. This inquiry has focused on the role of universities and non-university higher education providers, including the challenges facing the sector. However, the committee notes that TAFE NSW and private providers of higher education and VET are significant contributors to the tertiary education sector.

In particular, the inquiry has examined the impact on NSW of: (1) tertiary education's economic development role, especially university campuses and Country University Centres (CUCs) in regional NSW; (2) the mission of NSW universities with a particular focus on the role of universities to serve specific geographic communities; (3) the post-[COVID-19] pandemic return of foreign student numbers and the financial sustainability and risk management strategies of NSW tertiary education institutions; (4) the quality of university teaching and research, including the extent and impact of insecure employment in the sector; (5) levels of integration of the tertiary education sector with industry; (7) the quality of campus life and student freedom of expression; (7) foreign political interference within the NSW tertiary education sector; (8) the current levels of coordination and/or support provided to NSW universities by the NSW Government; (9) the recent experience with online learning and lessons for the further development of alternative models of tertiary education service delivery; (10) the appropriateness of current NSW legislation regulating, oversighting and enabling tertiary education; and (11) any other related matters. The report makes 39 recommendations based on the outcomes of the inquiry.

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This paper considers the debate over ‘good and bad jobs’, first exploring the very concept itself, particularly by which criteria a good job can be defined. Making use of this conceptual framework, the stock of jobs in Queensland and Australia is compared, so as to assess how Queensland is performing in providing good jobs for its workers. Objective evidence comparing Queensland and Australia are presented but these data are not definitive.

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This report provides outcomes of the research project National Survey on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment in Australian Libraries conducted in the period of 2020 to 2021. The research aimed to find out more about the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people employed in Australian libraries and identify the current employment types across a range of library settings. It also sought to find out more about the location of libraries with Indigenous staff across states, territories, and public, academic, and school, or other specialist libraries. By conducting the study, we have been able to identify the trends in current employment roles, identify gaps, and understand more about the experiences of Indigenous people working in these libraries. The report provides an outline of the demographic information provided by participants to the online survey and a summary of the major themes identified from data collected in the semi-structured interviews. The research has shown there are unique opportunities for the library sector to support the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian libraries and develop new pathways for current staff to access leadership roles and others to enter the profession. It has also identified significant gaps in support in this area and provided recommendations for future action and research.

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The purpose of this paper is to identify the range of issues that are facing the aged care industry in Australia in relation to its current and future workforce. The scope of this paper is limited to the paid direct care staff in the residential aged care sector and the community aged care sector in Australia. It does not set out to canvass all the issues facing community aged support services provided under the [Home and Community Care] HACC program and does not examine issues related to volunteers and unpaid carers. Direct care workers are the object of concern as to their supply and ability to deliver quality care.

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Australian jobs are constantly changing as new technologies are introduced and businesses find innovative ways of working. The challenges of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19, with its associated restrictions and lockdowns, have also caused jobs to change rapidly. These changes lead to the creation of new jobs and the need for different skills in existing jobs. So how do we understand the changing world of work and identify big picture trends that are shaping our workforce? We use labour market information.

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2020 marks the twelfth annual Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD), an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute that shines a spotlight on overwork among Australians, including excessive overtime that is often unpaid. It has been an extraordinary and difficult year, to say the least. Many workers are doing at least some of their work from home, and the standard scenario of 'staying late at the office' around which we have often shaped our analysis in the past applies to fewer workers than usual. But that is not to say that workers aren't doing work for free - in fact, the estimated incidence of 'time theft', or unpaid overtime, has gone up compared with 2019. Additionally, in many cases people's responsibilities in their home lives have increased in response to the health and social crisis, accentuating the double burden faced by workers (and especially by women workers).

Since 2009, the Centre for Future Work and the Australia Institute have commissioned an annual survey to investigate overwork, unpaid overtime, and other instances of 'time theft' in Australia. This year's poll of 1601 Australians was conducted between 23 and 27 July, with a sample that was nationally representative according to gender, age and state or territory. Of the 1601 respondents, 945 (or 59 per cent) were currently in paid work. This year, in addition to our usual survey questions about unpaid hours of work, we paid particular attention to the impact that the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic has had on people's working patterns. These included the extent to which they were working from home, and whether they were being supported to do so by their employers.

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The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the skill and occupation landscape in Australia. Talent shortages created by border closures and the restriction of movement across the country have impacted the way businesses and individuals work. As Australia recovers from the pandemic, identifying current skill needs and the gaps that exist, as well as how we address these gaps is crucial. Changing working environments and shifts to remote and flexible work have impacted how employers and employees can close skills gaps. It is in this context that RMIT Online engaged Deloitte Access Economics to better understand the changing skill and occupation landscape in Australia and the role that employers and employees play in responding to the gaps created by the pandemic.

This research paper surveyed a range of employers and employees across Australia. The employer survey indicated that 54 per cent of employers found it harder to retain current staff. This is consistent with employees' plans, with a staggering 56 per cent of employees indicating they had taken steps to change their current employment in the past four weeks, such as looking on LinkedIn or Seek, preparing their [curriculum vitae] CV, or sitting an interview. As employers are bracing for a potential great resignation, they are also struggling to recruit new staff. Over half of employers (58 per cent) reported finding it difficult to attract new staff in 2021, identifying border closures as the most common barrier.

Digital skills are the most likely to be identified as lacking in a business. This skills gap means that many Australians do not have the skills they need to perform their role. For those who do have these skills, employers regularly report that they are out of date - roughly one in five businesses (21 per cent) said their employees' digital skills were out of date. Digital skills will increase in importance over the next five years. While digital skills are highest in-demand today, roughly 60 per cent of employees said digital skills and knowledge of cyber security tools/processes would increase in importance over the next five years. For employers, the future of skills looks different. Soft skills including leadership, critical thinking, and communication were identified as the most important skills in the next five years.

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There is a common misconception that shortages in the regulated nursing workforce have led to an increased reliance on Unregulated Health Care Workers (UHCWs). While UHCWs make up a considerable proportion of the workforce, this is not exclusively due to issues around Registered Nurse (RN) supply. In many instances, employers are choosing UHCWs as they are financially advantageous in comparison to RNs. This White Paper intends to introduce key issues surrounding the UHCW workforce in Australian primary, acute and aged care settings and provides two key recommendations for consideration by the Australian Government. Specifically that it is imperative for nation-wide inconsistencies regarding the UHCW role and UHCW regulation to be addressed promptly.

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Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in Australia. A substantial proportion of males who die by suicide are of working age. It has also been observed that suicide varies by workplace and occupational factors, and some occupational groups and sectors are at higher risk of suicide than others. Within suicide research, therefore, there is considerable interest in understanding the extent to which workplace factors may increase or ameliorate suicide risk. There is also interest in assessing the utility of workplaces as settings in which suicide prevention initiatives can be implemented. One occupational group that is at elevated risk of suicide is that of construction workers. In many industrialised countries, construction workers are known to be at greater risk of suicide relative to non-construction workers. In Australia, male construction workers have consistently been found to die by suicide at about twice the rate of other male workers.

There is no single factor that is thought to increase the risk of suicide among construction workers, rather a constellation of factors is implicated. Certain job specific characteristics are thought to increase suicide risk among construction workers, including limited job control, job insecurity, periods of unemployment or underemployment, travel and periods of time working away from family and support. In recognition of the greater risk of suicide among construction workers, significant industry-focussed suicide prevention programs have been implemented across Australia. At the forefront of this, MATES in Construction have designed and implemented a comprehensive, multi-modal suicide prevention program across several Australian states. This has led to the training of more than 225,000 construction workers in General Awareness Training, 20,025 'Connectors' (workplace volunteer suicide support workers) and 2,732 'ASIST' volunteers across the Construction industry in Australia. This has motivated and led to similar programs within the construction sector in Australia, as well as internationally, and its utility as a workplace program has inspired its extension to other sectors.

To inform its ongoing suicide prevention efforts, and to provide an evidence base for targeted workplace mental health literacy, MATES seeks to understand suicide trends among Australian construction workers. This report documents the updated examination of suicide mortality among Australian male construction workers relative to non-construction workers. We use the latest suicide mortality statistics obtained from the National Coronial Information Service to examine trends across the years between 2001 and 2019. The analyses are disaggregated by state, for the benefit of stakeholders and funders of the Mates in Construction program. For the purpose of this report, construction workers are defined as any persons working in the following occupational groups: construction managers; construction trades workers; building and engineering technicians; electrotechnology and telecommunications trades workers; stationary plant and machine operators; and construction and mining labourers.

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The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) regularly submits papers to government and non-government enquiries. The following six submissions are publicly available: (1) Gender segregation in the workplace and its impact on women's economic equality - submitted on 9 February 2017; (2) 2030 Strategic Plan for the Australian Innovation, Science and Research System - submitted on 30 May 2017; (3) Inquiry into school to work transition - submitted on 31 July 2017; (4) Review of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 - submitted on 18 August 2017; (5) The Digital Economy: Opening up the Conversation - submitted on 30 November 2017; and (6) Inquiry into Career Advice Activities in Victorian Schools - submitted on 14 December 2017. Show less