Signed by 124 Labour Market, Employment Relations and Labour Law Researchers
For the last several years, Australian wages have experienced an unprecedented slowdown. Nominal wages have been growing at only about 2% per year since 2015. That’s barely half the traditional pace of [...]
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Scientific understanding of the consequences of inequality has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Thanks to the pioneering work of scholars such as Joseph Stiglitz, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, and Tony Atkinson, we know that persistent social and economic inequality exacts an [...]
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As featured in The Sydney Morning Herald by Matt Wade, the share of total economic output in Australia that is paid to workers (in the form of wages, salaries, and superannuation contributions) has been declining for decades. Workers produce more real output with each hour of labour (thanks [...]
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“Jobs” are so yesterday, we are told. Instead, the future of work is all about “gigs.” Never mind old-fashioned features like regular schedules, annual leave, or superannuation. Digital platforms and smart-phone apps will free workers from those outdated constraints, allowing us to move [...]
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Public Letter from Economists, April 6 2017
Australia’s Fair Work Commission has recently decided to reduce penalty rates for work on Sundays and public holidays in the retail and hospitality sectors. Rates would fall by 25 to 50 percentage points of base wages, for most employees [...]
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The Coalition government’s “Jobs and Growth” agenda is already in big trouble, only months after serving as the centerpiece of its reelection campaign. Australia lost 34,000 full-time jobs last year, underemployment is at record levels, and GDP growth has slipped into negative [...]
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More than two years after all three automakers in Australia announced they were closing down their manufacturing activities here, the shutdown of the entire industry is now at hand. That last Australian-made Ford car rolled off the assembly line in Broadmeadows, Victoria last week. Holden [...]
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Penalty rates for working on weekends were an important “sleeper” issue in the recent federal election in Australia. On the surface, both Labor and the Coalition agreed the future of penalty rates would be determined by the Fair Work Commission. But that superficial consensus couldn’t hide [...]
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