Assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh says Australians have used about a quarter of the post-1980 productivity dividend to "work less", as he revisited a 1930 John Maynard Keynes prediction that people in 2030 "would inherit a world shaped by rising productivity and the promise of abundance".
An IR expert is anticipating a pre-election policy announcement tackling post-employment restraints, as new research reveals their chilling effect on job mobility, the financial toll on workers, and the struggle for those affected to understand and negotiate the restrictions.
The FWC is seeking submissions on the latest phase of its research on gender-based occupational segregation, which has been released ahead of this year's annual wage review.
The ACTU says the FWC should conduct a "comprehensive assessment" of gender-based undervaluation of work, rather than seek to finalise the issue in this year's minimum wage review.
University research commissioned by the FWC has identified 29 "large, highly feminised" and probably undervalued occupations covered by 13 modern awards that it might spotlight in the current annual wage review, in response to the Secure Jobs' imperative to address unequal remuneration and gender undervaluation in minimum rates of pay.
As the Albanese Government pushes for the passage of its Closing Loopholes legislation that provides new protections for "employee-like" workers, the ABS has revealed its first "experimental estimates" indicating that digital platform workers account for 1% of the working population and most commonly perform food delivery and personal transport tasks.
JobKeeper kept people in work and prevented widespread business failures during the coronavirus pandemic, but in future crises the Government should consider improvements, including a tiered wage subsidy, according to Treasury's evaluation of the landmark scheme.
The ILO says AI-related workplace automation will disproportionately affect women, and the resulting job losses could threaten the increasing participation of females in the labour market.
The RBA is continuing to warn about the dangers of a wage-price spiral, saying the chances of it have declined, but could rise again if the FWC awards a "large" minimum rise this year or government employers ease or drop pay caps.
