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Introduction: There is growing interest in the role of the non-government sector in the alcohol and other drug (AOD) service delivery system. This study examined the demographic profile of AOD workers in the non-government (NGO) compared to government sector, to ascertain their professional development needs, job satisfaction, retention and turnover., Methods: This study utilised cross-sectional data from an Australian AOD workforce online survey that assessed participants' demographics, employment profile, professional development needs and barriers. The sample comprised 888 workers in direct client service roles., Results: Binomial logistic regression analysis indicated that NGO workers were more likely to be younger (<35 years), have AOD lived experience and have an AOD vocational qualification. NGO workers were more likely to earn below the national average salary and report job insecurity; but nonetheless were more likely to feel respected and supported at work, believe their work was meaningful and be satisfied working in the AOD sector. Their top professional development barrier was personal financial cost. NGO workers were more likely to report employer financial costs as a professional development barrier, whereas government workers were more likely to report staff shortages., Discussion and Conclusions: AOD services in Australia rely increasingly on the NGO sector. Quality services and care pivot on the size, capability and maturity of the workforce. This study highlights the need for systemic interventions addressing structural issues, and the professional development and ongoing support needs of the NGO AOD workforce. Without such support, Australia's AOD services will be potentially jeopardised., (© 2021 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Objective: Individual placement and support (IPS) has shown consistently better outcomes on competitive employment for patients with severe mental illness than traditional vocational rehabilitation. The evidence for efficacy originates from few countries, and generalization to different countries has been questioned. This has delayed implementation of IPS and led to requests for country-specific RCTs. This meta-analysis examines if evidence for IPS efficacy can be generalized between rather different countries., Methods: A systematic search was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines to identify RCTs. Overall efficacy was established by meta-analysis. The generalizability of IPS efficacy between countries was analysed by random-effects meta-regression, employing country- and date-specific contextual data obtained from the OECD and the World Bank., Results: The systematic review identified 27 RCTs. Employment rates are more than doubled in IPS compared with standard vocational rehabilitation (RR 2.07 95% CI 1.82-2.35). The efficacy of IPS was marginally moderated by strong legal protection against dismissals. It was not moderated by regulation of temporary employment, generosity of disability benefits, type of integration policies, GDP, unemployment rate or employment rate for those with low education., Conclusions: The evidence for efficacy of IPS is very strong. The efficacy of IPS can be generalized between countries., (© 2019 The Authors. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Indigenous employment has been the subject of numerous policies in Australia, with governments aiming to increase the workforce participation rate amongst Indigenous people in recent years. Indigenous‐owned businesses, formally defined as businesses that are at least 50% Indigenous‐owned, have been demonstrated in previous research to maintain substantially higher levels of proportional Indigenous employment than non‐Indigenous businesses. This suggests that Indigenous‐owned businesses maintain work environments that are more supportive of and conducive to Indigenous employment, meriting the influence of Indigenous‐owned businesses' workplace practices in future Indigenous employment policy design. Using administrative data from two Indigenous business registries (Black Business Finder and Supply Nation), this paper provides an updated empirical analysis of the Indigenous business sector. This paper demonstrates that Indigenous‐owned businesses of all sizes, industries, locations and profit statuses consistently average proportional Indigenous employment rates higher than the Indigenous proportional population. Of all the people employed in Supply Nation‐listed businesses, over 35% are Indigenous. The potential impact of the Indigenous Procurement Policy is illustrated by differentials in the size of businesses and their capacity to employ Indigenous staff. This paper provides analysis of the Indigenous business sector that can inform future policy direction for both Indigenous employment and Indigenous business policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, labour markets are encountering profound changes because of the digital revolution. Middle‐income countries such as China are leapfrogging high‐income countries to take advantage of the digital economy. The growing use of digital technologies is also reshaping the labour market in high‐income countries such as Australia. Potentially, new technologies may facilitate both employers and employees to overcome some of the barriers to disability employment. However, it seems that the opportunities and hopes have not yet translated into improved employment rate for people with disability. This paper uses an ecosystem framework to examine the state's role in improving the critical elements of disability employment: developing a national strategy, creating employment opportunities, building capacity and enhancing accessibility. This paper compares the historical development of disability employment and the policies introduced to take advantage of digital technologies across China and Australia. It studies the national policies, funded activities and the governing structure in China and Australia. The findings revealed distinctive approaches that have played to the strengths of each country. However, both countries need to address the weaker links to deliver a real paradigm shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour markets around the world are experiencing extraordinary disruption during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The gap in the employment rate between Australians with and without disability is likely to widen, given the entrenched disadvantage of people with disability in the job market. For many, it will compound existing health and economic vulnerabilities. This scenario is troubling from both a human rights and an economic perspective. In this paper, we examine the interface of two policy instruments intended to improve the prospects of people with disability finding and keeping employment in Australia – Disability Employment Services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme – in the lead up to and in the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Findings from three studies conducted between 2018 and 2020 reveal these instruments are not mutually reinforcing. With a 10‐year National Disability Employment Strategy (NDES) in development under federal government oversight, we argue that more concerted and targeted effort from these services and broader public policies and programs is needed to ensure Australians with disability are not sidelined in the labour market in the wake of the pandemic. We examine the interface of two policy instruments intended to improve the employment prospects of people with disability in Australia. Three recent studies reveal these instruments are not mutually reinforcing. More concerted effort is needed to ensure Australians with disability are not excluded from work in the wake of COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To systematically review evaluated local, community or peer‐delivered well‐being and employment interventions delivered within regional, rural and remote Australia. Design: Searches within nine databases retrieved peer‐reviewed and grey literature from an initial pool of 3186 papers published between 2012 and 2022. PRISMA guidelines were adhered to, and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of the well‐being or employment (or both) articles. Findings: A total of 19 items met the inclusion criteria, which included two quantitative, 12 qualitative and five mixed‐methods evaluations. Intervention cohorts included Indigenous Australians, youth, older people, workers and the general community. The average methodological rating was 83%. The overall level of evidence for the interventions was low due to mostly descriptive studies. Discussion: Interventions that appeared effective in improving well‐being tended to focus on addressing social connectedness and self‐determination. Unexpected employment outcomes were evident across many of the studies, which highlighted the reciprocity between well‐being and employment. Conclusion: This review highlights promising interventions for improving well‐being by focusing on social connectedness and self‐determination. Further empirical evidence is encouraged to explore the reciprocal relationship between well‐being and employment, emphasising the significance of social connectedness and self‐determination in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore determinants of job reallocation, employment change and average job tenure in this paper. A model which associates technological advances with the process of economic growth is modified and analysed. The features of this model allow for the possibility of asymmetric behaviour when looking at the net change in employment. Workplace data from Australia (AWIRS95) are used to test the predictions generated from the model for both employment change and average job tenure. Results are presented that provide clear evidence as to the nature of workplaces in which net employment growth is concentrated. We find that employment growth is asymmetrically related to expected changes in demand for the output of the workplace. We also find that employment is lower for workplaces that are larger, older, have greater union density, offer higher relative earnings, or are operating in a more competitive environment. The impacts on average tenure are as expected from the model and from these changes in employment. Overall there is a substantial degree of agreement between the predictions of the model and our empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new geography of functional economic regions (FERs) has been created for Australia using a methodology that optimizes within-region self-containment of commuting to jobs. The paper tests whether this FER geography might overcome the spatial autocorrelation problem encountered when using de jure regions such as local government areas (LGAs). The empirical context for the analysis is an investigation of potential factors that might explain spatial variability in the endogenous regional employment performance over the decade 1996-2006. Resumen. Mediante el uso de una metodología que optimiza la auto-suficiencia intrarregional en el desplazamiento al trabajo, se ha creado para Australia una nueva geografía de regiones económicas funcionales (FERs, siglas en inglés). El artículo comprueba si esta geografía de FER podría superar el problema de la autocorrelación espacial encontrado al utilizar regiones de derecho tales como áreas de gobierno local (AGL). El contexto empírico del análisis es una investigación de los factores potenciales que pudieran explicar la variabilidad espacial en el desempeño en cuanto a empleo regional endógeno en la década de 1996-2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important measures of the state of the labour market is the unemployment rate. However, the standard definition of unemployment ignores an important group of people who are not employed but who want to work– the marginally attached workforce. The marginally attached are defined as those who are not employed, want to work but are not actively seeking work and therefore not classified as unemployed. The paper uses longitudinal data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns (SEUP) to test whether the marginally attached are behaviourally distinct from the unemployed or those who are not attached to the labour force. We find that the labour force transitions of the marginally attached, on the whole, are between those of the unemployed and the unattached. Another finding is that the length of time over which the labour market dynamics are considered is crucial to our understanding of the labour market dynamics of the marginally attached. An implication of the findings of this paper is that a range of measures of potential labour supply should be considered, and that the measure used should depend on the specific question being asked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: When planning evidence‐based intervention services for children with phonology‐based speech sound disorders (SSD), speech and language therapists (SLTs) need to integrate research evidence regarding service delivery and intervention intensity within their clinical practice. However, relatively little is known about the optimal intensity of phonological interventions and whether SLTs’ services align with the research evidence. Aims: The aims are twofold. First, to review external evidence (i.e., empirical research evidence external to day‐to‐day clinical practice) regarding service delivery and intervention intensity for phonological interventions. Second, to investigate SLTs’ clinical practice with children with phonology‐based SSD in Australia, focusing on service delivery and intensity. By considering these complementary sources of evidence, SLTs and researchers will be better placed to understand the state of the external evidence regarding the delivery of phonological interventions and appreciate the challenges facing SLTs in providing evidence‐based services. Methods & Procedures: Two studies are presented. The first is a review of phonological intervention research published between 1979 and 2016. Details regarding service delivery and intervention intensity were extracted from the 199 papers that met inclusion criteria identified through a systematic search. The second study was an online survey of 288 SLTs working in Australia, focused on the service delivery and intensity of intervention provided in clinical practice. Main Contributions: There is a gap between the external evidence regarding service delivery and intervention intensity and the internal evidence from clinical practice. Most published intervention research has reported to provide intervention two to three times per week in individual sessions delivered by an SLT in a university clinic, in sessions lasting 30–60 min comprising 100 production trials. SLTs reported providing services at intensities below that found in the literature. Further, they reported workplace, client and clinician factors that influenced the intensity of intervention they were able to provide to children with phonology‐based SSD. Conclusions & Implications: Insufficient detail in the reporting of intervention intensity within published research coupled with service delivery constraints may affect the implementation of empirical evidence into everyday clinical practice. Research investigating innovative solutions to service delivery challenges is needed to provide SLTs with evidence that is relevant and feasible for clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population ageing is profoundly challenging the institutions and systems that organise paid work, healthcare, and retirement. A major response to these challenges has been to encourage older workers to remain longer in employment, thereby extending the period of 'productive life' in which they are net contributors to government revenue. Yet this strategy depends on a range of micro-level adjustments, about which relatively little is known. These include how willingly older workers and employers adjust their attitudes and practices, and what types of policies facilitate these adjustments. In this paper, we critique the major policy responses to workforce ageing in Australia to date, and consider further measures to improve recruitment and retention of older workers. We argue that a more holistic policy response will require better evidence about ageist employment barriers, late-career transitions, and older workers' job performance. We outline a research agenda to improve evidence and policy in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the complexities surrounding the lived experiences of skilled migrant women and men from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESBs) who arrive in Australia and attempt to seek work. The paper will analyze the migrants' experiences using intersectionality theory as a framework. Drawing on Anthias's social relations framework, this research will contribute to the field by demonstrating how intersectionality theory can be operationalized to understand the complex lived experiences of disadvantaged groups. The research will reveal how being a new migrant in Australia, unfamiliar with local job search processes, complicates jobseeking. The paper will show how gender and family roles impact this process, especially when young families are involved. Both genders suffer downward occupational mobility, with men seeking any type of work to get by, and women gravitating towards insecure forms of employment, or exiting the labour force, in order to manage the family unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broad consensus exists that Australian economic activity is too heavily concentrated in capital cities, and regional employment creation should be encouraged. Given the magnitude of international migration to Australia, it is important to determine the impact of migration on regional development by investigating business ownership and job creation by international migrants in regional areas. This paper examines the probability that regional migrant business owners are employers – and thereby employment generators – using a multivariate logit model. We find that migrant business owners with staff are more likely to be male, married and live in regional NSW, metropolitan Victoria and regional and metropolitan Queensland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of increased population and water demand and reduced water supply on sectoral and regional output and employment in Australia utilising a multi-regional computable general equilibrium model. The results indicate that the increase in water demand will significantly increase the shadow price (or opportunity cost) of water use in major urban centres. For cities predicted to have high growth rates such as Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, if rising water scarcity had not been supplemented by new water supplies, and if the price of water had reflected rising scarcity, the price of water would have risen by fivefold, sevenfold and eightfold per kilolitre respectively. However, allowing rural-urban water trading and developing new water sources would reduce water scarcity and the opportunity cost of water use and the economic impacts on the Australian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the provision and effects of a program devised to facilitate the professional transition of skilled migrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) arriving in Australia on permanent visas. The program ('Skilled Professional Migrants Program'-SPMP) was delivered by AMES Australia and internally evaluated through a telephone survey of 337 past participants. A report of survey results, primarily gauging short-term post-program employment outcomes, presented a very positive picture. In this paper we take a fresh look at the quantitative and qualitative survey data in order to analyse the success of the program from the perspective of gender. The paper focuses on gender differences in professional employment transition post-program in the context of the structural impact of the gendered labour market. We found a significant difference between NESB men and women in their post-program labour market incorporation into professional jobs that matched their skills. The gendered structures also influenced the 'networking effect' of the professional transition program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distinction between job and excess worker reallocation in a model proposed by Burda and Wyplosz (1994) offers a possible explanation for the observed empirical regularity of countercyclical gross flows of workers from unemployment to employment. Previous descriptions of gross flow cyclical adjustment have not adequately accounted for the role of excess worker reallocation in labour market adjustment. This paper investigates the characteristics of Australian gross flow relationships between unemployment and employment, using a structural VAR methodology, for evidence of patterns consistent with the dynamic behaviour of labour reallocation proposed by the Burda and Wyplosz model. The results provide support for a description of labour market adjustment in the last Australian recession as a combination of job and excess worker reallocation effects, as implied by the model, and highlight the role played by excess worker reallocation in generating countercyclical UE flows. The paper also considers the interrelationship between labour reallocation and long-term unemployment and the flow adjustment patterns of males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue for a systems perspective as the theoretical and analytical basis of national innovation ecosystems. Drawing on the system concepts of holism, emergence and open systems features, we analyse the national innovation ecosystems of Australia and Singapore. The analysis of national innovation ecosystems is based on five dimensions of policies: human capital investment and the availability of professional labour, infrastructure, private–public sector collaboration, support for funding and commercialization and innovation corporate culture. We find both countries' national innovation ecosystems to have aspects of holism, emergence and being open systems; however, the extent of these features varies between the two countries in terms of the five dimensions of national innovation policies that we focus on. The paper provides implications for theory and practice particularly for policymakers to consider systems perspective in order to properly design and also gain benefits from national innovation ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labour market consequences of trade and protection have only recently come under the scrutiny of labour economists. This paper seeks to accomplish two things - to survey the recent research and to provide estimates of the effect that reductions in effective rates of assistance afforded to Australia's manufacturing industries have had on employment. Recent labour market developments reveal a downward trend in manufacturing employment levels. The declines appear to have been associated with lower levels of assistance. However, the estimates of the effect of lower levels of protection are generally small - about a one per cent reduction in employment for each ten per cent reduction in the effective rate of industry assistance. In addition, the manufacturing employment developments appear to be only weakly linked to real wage resistance. Overall, an overriding impression from the find ings presented in this paper is the strength of the structural adjustments ongoing in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model developed in this paper incorporates several features which reflect, more accurately, characteristics of labour markets. First, labour is assumed to be heterogenous. The realism of this assumption hardly needs to be defended. Second, unions do not mechanically fix the wage rate of their members but rather they maximise an objective function. This approach reflects current developments in the theory of labour economics. Third, the economy has a dual character; some markets are unionised while some remain competitive. It can be argued that the phenomenon of a dual economy consisting of flex-wage and rigid-wage sectors is becoming increasingly important in developed and developing countries. Previous literature has tended to concentrate on the extreme case of either complete wage flexibility or complete wage rigidity. By rejecting these extreme assumptions, one hopes to build a more realistic model. The paper is divided into six parts. The basic model is presented in section II. The production side of the economy consists of five equations determining relative factor prices, outputs of two goods and employment of factors of production. We then show how a trade union chooses an optimal combination of wage rate and employment and how the union's choice affects the rest of the economy. Comparative static properties of the model are studied in section III. Particular attention is paid to changes in wage relativities and unemployment in response to variations in factor endowment, commodity prices and technological progress. Section IV takes up some issues concerning long-run changes in relative supplies of different types of labour. It is shown in section V that the model can be readily applied to analysis of minimum wage legislation. The paper ends with a reflection on the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy in coping with unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including personnel management, employment for immigrants in Australia, and superior-subordinate relationship.

This paper explores the relationship between local unemployment rates and the length of time people who have lost their job spend unemployed, using a competing risks model. High local unemployment is found to reduce the probability of re-employment for someone who was employed prior to a period of unemployment. However, individual factors such as age, education and experience are more important predictors of re-employment. This suggests there could be benefits from a policy response that focuses more on the individuals, and building skills that are resilient to structural change, than on job creation in local areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of a quality health care service (HCS) industry in a region can contribute significantly to the attraction of new industries, retain the existing ones, and contribute to the overall social and economic prosperity of the region. However, when conducting an economic impact assessment it is not always clear how the value of the HCS industry can be increased at a regional level. The HCS industry is often one of the largest industries in a region in terms of creating employment and generating income, but unless it creates linkages with other industries, its contribution to the prosperity of the region will be limited. This paper suggests a methodology for economic impact assessment aimed at increasing the benefits of HCS at a regional level. Using a case study of the Fitzroy Statistical Division, a non-metropolitan region in Queensland, Australia, the regional economic impact is assessed using input-output analysis. In each region, the key sectors need to be encouraged to enhance connections with the HCS industry in order to enhance the value of HCS in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim The role played by Australian occupational therapists with clients living with terminal illness has recently been highlighted in the Occupational Therapy Australia () position paper on palliative care. To date, little evidence exists about the work profile of these therapists, the type of clients seen, their practice settings and how long therapists are planning to remain in this clinical role. This paper presents results from a national survey of Australian occupational therapists working with people who are terminally ill. Methods The largest ever sample ( n = 171) of Australian occupational therapists working with clients who are terminally ill were purposively surveyed in this national mixed-method study, which was analysed using descriptive statistics and grounded theory. Results Results revealed a predominantly full-time, publicly employed (81%), female (93%) workforce, with an average six years of experience in this setting. Most therapists treated clients in the community (49%), with slightly fewer working in inpatient settings (40%). Many had dual caseloads, employed in palliative care clinical roles, aged care or oncology settings. Neoplasms of varying kinds represented the dominant clinical diagnostic category. The majority of respondents planned to remain in their current role on average seven more years, citing job satisfaction as the main reason for doing so. Conclusions Results from this study reveal important data for future workforce planning in this clinical area. The information gathered about client diagnoses and practice contexts will enable more targeted preparation of students for graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the incidence and wage effects of overskilling in Australia. It finds that approximately 30 per cent of employees believed themselves to be moderately overskilled and 11 per cent believed themselves to be severely overskilled. The incidence of skills mismatch varied little when the sample was split by education. After controlling for individual and job characteristics as well as the potential bias arising from individual unobserved heterogeneity, severely overskilled workers suffer an average wage penalty of 10.2 per cent with the penalty ranging from about 6 per cent among vocationally qualified employees to just less than 20 per cent for graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the efficacy of current employment services in Australia, jobactive, from the perspectives of young job seekers and their employment officers. As high youth unemployment rates and the efficacy of jobactive employment services are currently areas of priority for the Australian Government, the study offers a timely contribution to the social policy and youth employment literature by exploring the tensions experienced by young job seekers while registered with a jobactive provider, and employment officers when assisting young people to find sustainable employment. The study analyses data from 46 interviews with young job seekers and their employment officers in an outer western Melbourne region. The findings reveal particular concerns about appropriate and adequate service provision for marginalized young job seekers that are similar to those in evaluations of previous marketwise employment service contracts, Job Network and Job Services Australia. Suggestions for tailored employment assistance for young job seekers to gain sustainable employment are offered for future consideration. The study offers a timely contribution to the social policy and youth employment literature by exploring the tensions experienced by young job seekers whilst registered with a jobactive provider, and employment officers when assisting young people to find sustainable employment. The findings reveal particular concerns about appropriate and adequate service provision for marginalised young job seekers that are similar to those in evaluations of previous marketised employment service contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The challenges in the recruitment and retention of dentists in rural Australia have contributed to a lack of dental service provision to rural communities. This paper explores the workforce factors involved in the employment location decisions of dentists' post‐graduation. Materials and methods: Graduates between 2009 and 2013 from the University of Sydney, Dental School, were asked to complete a telephone interview related to their employment history. A total of 135 interviews were conducted, with 63% (135/214) of contactable graduates, or 33.4% (135/404) of all the graduates (2009‐2013). Interviews followed a semi‐structured script. Results: Key factors which positively impacted on rural employment included the following: job competition in metropolitan areas, good rural salaries, financial incentives, clinical experience, rural lifestyle and professional mentorship. Barriers were as follows: proximity to friends and family, building a social and professional network, isolation, less professional support and reduced access to education. Conclusion: Recommendations to increase rural employment include: competitive rural salaries, financial incentives and formal mentorship during both recruitment and integration into a rural community. Dental schools should consider advertising identified drivers of rural employment, namely good salaries, full‐time employment, clinical experience and rural lifestyle. This study provides important information related to rural employment and rural retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the HILDA (Household Income and Labour Dynamics), this paper examines the implications of childcare costs on maternal employment status by distinguishing between full-time and part-time work. Our empirical approach uses an ordered probit model taking into account the endogeneity associated with both wages and childcare costs. Results indicate that childcare costs have a statistically insignificant effect on the decision to work either full time or part time. Moreover, the reported elasticities of part-time and full-time work with respect to childcare costs are relatively low. Finally, our results indicate that Australian mothers respond to an increase in wages by increasing both their full-time and part-time employment. Conversely, an increase in the number of young children (particularly under four years of age) and an increase in non-labour income reduce the likelihood of the mother is observed to be working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In remote Australia there is an expanding emphasis on the employment and training of Indigenous people in the mining industry. Employment and training programs are presented as an effective strategy for breaking welfare dependence and empowering individuals and communities to take responsibility for their future. Using the case of programs targeting Warlpiri people's participation in the gold mining industry in the Tanami Region of the Northern Territory of Australia, this paper explores some of the different ways in which Warlpiri people are being governed. It investigates the endeavours, through various practices and discourses, to constitute Warlpiri people as particular kinds of neoliberal and ‘job ready’ subjects. Whilst the employment and training programs claim to respect the culture and liberties of Warlpiri people, there are clearly outlined attempts to construct self-reliant, autonomous and active individuals. Finally, the paper explores the potential links between rationalisations justifying the programs and the current concern, at the level of state and national governments, to direct various populations into work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Casual employment is steadily increasing its share of total employment in Australia. This paper analyses some of the factors that have led to this situation by extending the work of Simpson, Dawkins and Madden (1997). The results, while confirming some of their research and clarifying the role of union membership in limiting the spread of casual employment, also show that the determinants of casual employment in Australia are sensitive to the period of estimation and the form of model used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the article "Towards Full Employment," by Peter Dawkins and John Freebairn (hereafter, DF). They have written a very useful and stimulating paper on Australia's most pressing economic problem, unemployment. They present a fairly mainstream analysis of the causes of unemployment, attributing it essentially to two factors, high real wages and inadequate economic growth. They propose a solution aimed at reducing the aggregate rate to around 5 per cent over the next few years, which is to allow a fall in real wages of around 10 per cent. The most significant contribution of the paper lies in DF's recognition of the close nexus between wage outcomes and social security arrangements. This leads them to promote a radically different role in Australia for the tax and transfer system, one designed eventually to lead to negative income taxes. Their essential argument for a negative income tax is that such an approach allows cuts in real wages without increasing the dispersion of incomes; further it is alleged that the policy can be designed to avoid the current high effective marginal tax rates which make the reduction in unemployment more difficult than it need be.

Poverty and inequality measurement in Australia has typically excluded the self-employed because of concerns about a weak relationship between their measured incomes and their standard of living. At the same time, however, families containing self-employed individuals receive substantial income support. Is this support well targeted? This paper compares the living standards of low income self-employed and employee families using data from the ABS 1993-94 House- hold Expenditure Survey. The use of expenditure data for the measurement of living standards poses particular methodological problems, for which some new solutions are proposed. The paper concludes that the average living standards of low income self- employed families and of self-employed families receiving additional family payments are higher than those of comparable employee families. On the other hand, a greater proportion of self-employed families have low consumption levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on path to full employment in relation to Australia. Employment arises because there is a lack of collective will. It does not arise because real wages are too high or aggregate demand too low. These are only proximate causes, if causes at all. The lack of collective will has been the principal casualty of the influence of rationalism. In this paper the proximate cause of unemployment is shown to be a persistent deficiency of aggregate demand. But the underlying cause is that the rise of free market ideology has meant that people are no longer prepared to bear some costs themselves to ensure others have employment. The only way people will return to full employment is if the costs and benefits of economic activity are shared. The public sector must be the vehicle to restore the collective will. In this paper, it is argued that the solution to persistent unemployment is for the Government to act as a Buffer Stock Employer, plus the reintroduction of incomes policy. Further deregulation of the wages system cannot be justified.

Without high‐quality translation of online information about government support and services, refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia experience a major barrier to improved health, employment, education and social outcomes. Recent advances in the ability of Google Translate, Skype Translator and other forms of machine translation that use artificial intelligence can help translate government information to better support refugees and migrants but they bring the risk of ineffective communication, and exclusion from services that could positively impact on settlement experiences and daily life. Evidence suggests that government agencies are likely to be using human translators for most translation work, but the degree to which any form of information technology is used, how it may be best applied and the associated effects are not known. This study systematically reviewed the peer‐reviewed and grey literature to determine effective ways of using information technology for translating government information to refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia. Included studies were analysed to identify techniques and other characteristics of translation, information technology and language support more broadly, and outcomes on education, health, social and other refugee and migrant experiences relating to translated information. Our review found a small evidence base featuring studies with strong evaluation demonstrating effective forms of 'language support' for refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia in a broad sense. However, there is a major gap in knowledge that is contributing to barriers in the use of online government information in Australia. In particular, there is an absence of evidence demonstrating what is effective in the use of machine translation with artificial intelligence, websites and other kinds of information technology for translating government information with refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The oversight risks further excluding already marginalised groups from services and support. This paper makes a number of suggestions practitioners can take to address the issue and guidelines for future research. This review addresses the need to better support refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia by identifying more effective approaches for using information technology when translating government information through guidelines for future research and practice recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Most mental disorders have their onset by age 25, disrupting normative vocational engagement. Factors associated with vocational disengagement at first contact with specialist treatment are important for service planning. The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between theoretically important factors and vocational disengagement for youth entering mental health treatment. Methods: A file audit was used to extract vocational data of 145 young people aged 15 to 25 years entering treatment in 2011 at a public youth mental health service in Melbourne, Australia. Comparisons were made across three specialist programs for: psychosis (n = 50), mood disorders (n = 52) and borderline personality pathology (n = 43). Individual characteristics were entered into univariate and multivariate logistic regressions to investigate their associations with vocational disengagement. Results: Educational disengagement was associated with being older (OR = 4.38, P = 0.004) and not living with parents (OR = 2.87, P = 0.038). Unemployment and being NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) were both associated with not having commenced tertiary education (OR = 0.23, P = 0.022; OR = 0.05, P = 0.002; respectively). Being NEET was also associated with being older (OR = 6.18, P = 0.004). Primary diagnostic grouping was not associated with vocational disengagement, once accounting for other factors. Conclusions: The likelihood of vocational disengagement did not differ across disorder groups, implying that intervention should be "transdiagnostic" and might best target education first, specifically post‐secondary qualifications. Other domains or variables not measured in this study are also likely to be important, and this might include young people's support systems and symptom severity. Qualitative studies may be useful for exploring further factors relevant to vocational engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the small area scale simple methods for forecasting total populations are often employed because of a lack of data for cohort-component models, concerns about the reliability of these models for forecasting small population totals, and resource constraints. To date, a select number of authors have assessed the forecast accuracy of several individual, averaged, and composite models. This paper extends this stream of work by evaluating a large number of models on new datasets. The aims of the paper are to examine the performance of (a) 10 individual forecasting models (some of which are well known; others less so); (b) averages of every combination of 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the individual models (627 in total); and (c) composite models based on population size and growth rates (200,000 in total). Do averaged and composite models outperform individual models? Using new small area population datasets, forecasts from 2001 to 2031 were produced for three case study countries, Australia, New Zealand, and England & Wales. Both forecast accuracy and credibility (avoidance of negatives; degree of constraining to state populations) were assessed in 2011; for 2031, just credibility was evaluated. Of the individual models, constant share of growth (positive shares only) and constant share of population performed the best. A small proportion of averaged and composite models outperformed the best individual models in forecast accuracy. Several recommendations for the practice of small area population forecasting are made. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper will review progress towards the identified targets within the Australian government policy document commonly known as 'Closing the Gap' and examine the role of nurses in supporting its implementation. Background: Australia is not alone in seeking to address the health inequity between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people. Globally such health inequities are similar and require interventions supported by governments in conjunction with health and education systems to affect desired change. For this reason, it is timely to undertake a review of progress on the impact of the Closing the Gap initiative. Sources of evidence: The Australian national partnership agreement and subsequent annual performance reports issued between 2010 and 2017. Discussion: Targets set within the Australian government national partnership agreement have had a range of success. Those targets not on track require significant long‐term investment to ensure their success. Nurses as a large professional group are powerful advocates to speak up and support policy change that affects disempowered social groups. Conclusion: Long‐term social change takes time, yet without the commitment of Australian Governments through effective policy and economic support, the inequity in the health of Indigenous people will continue both now and in the future. Implications for health and social policy: Nurses, as the largest health professional group, are uniquely placed to support and implement social change at all levels of health care (primary, secondary and tertiary) and to lobby government to amend policy alongside those who are disempowered. Implications for nursing practice: Health promotion and education programmes that are led by nurses can make an impact to health disparities within groups who are most at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the last vestiges of the remarkable, Indigenous‐controlled, Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme were removed, Australia entered a post‐CDEP era in 2013. In its place, in remote areas only, the rigid and externally imposed Community Development Programme (CDP) has been installed. The CDEP scheme had been a successful work‐creation strategy that produced positive social, economic, and political outcomes for First Nations citizens across Australia. In contrast, the CDP has operated like Work‐for‐the‐Dole on steroids and its introduction has seen high numbers of unemployed Indigenous participants exit the welfare system altogether. In this article, I look at how we got here. Guided by postcolonial theory and implementing the toolkit provided by Carol Bacchi's "What's the Problem Represented to be?" approach, I pay close attention to the way in which Indigenous policy has been represented over the past 25 years. In particular, I examine the construction of the problem of "Aboriginal welfare dependency" by the Liberal/National Coalition Government led by Prime Minister John Howard between 1996 and 2007. This interconnected problem representation, I argue, has been instrumental in changing the way Indigenous affairs is thought about, with concrete implications for policy today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the ways in which the Coronavirus disease‐19 (COVID‐19) pandemic has affected Australians who live and travel in cross‐border regions in the course of their daily lives. Design: Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with participants by telephone. The analysis utilised qualitative exploratory methods and provided rich data through immersive and reflexive analysis. Setting: Interviews of people across Australia. Participants: Of 90 people interviewed in relation to their experiences of the COVID‐19 pandemic, 13 described challenges related to border crossing that impacted their usual work and personal life. Main outcome Measure: Description of challenges faced by Australians living close to state borders due to internal border closures in the early period of COVID‐19 (2020). Results: Policy changes surrounding border closures negatively impacted people's wellbeing in Australia with three key interconnected themes identified for Australians living in cross‐border regions. First, border closures presented participants of these communities with physical barriers which reduced access to healthcare and employment. Second, participants reported how restrictions on travel to neighboring states and territories impacted their mental wellbeing. Finally, many Australians in cross‐border regions faced financial struggles exacerbated by border closures. Conclusion: Normally, interstate borders are largely invisible with formalities relevant to few circumstances. Since the emergence of the COVID‐19 pandemic, Australians who used to regularly cross these borders in the course of their daily activities were no longer able or willing to do so due to the uncertain circumstances surrounding border policy. This study elaborates on the impact of these closures on people's physical, financial, and emotional state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of weekend penalty rates has been a contentious political issue in recent times. In its recent review of Modern Awards, the Fair Work Commission determined a reduction in Sunday penalty rates, arguing that this would result in increased employment and hours in Retail and Hospitality sectors. In this paper, we present a critique of the evidence before the Commission relating to employment creation. We also present survey findings of workers’ employment before and after the penalty rate reform. In the short run we find that there was no discernible positive impact on affected workers’ employment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Social needs such as housing, employment, food, income and social isolation are having a significant impact on individuals, families and communities. Individuals are increasingly presenting to health settings with social needs, which are ill‐equipped to address nonmedical needs. Social prescribing is a systematic approach connecting the health, social and community sectors to better address social needs and improve health and wellbeing. Social prescribing interventions are being implemented world‐wide. With variability in health and social care systems internationally, it is important that social prescribing interventions are co‐designed with key stakeholders to ensure they can be implemented and sustained within local systems. Methods: This Australian case study provides a detailed description of the process undertaken to co‐design a social prescribing service model in a regional area. Four co‐design workshops were undertaken, two with health and social care professionals and two with community members. The project followed an iterative process of resourcing, planning, recruiting, sensitising, facilitation, reflection and building for change across the workshops. Results: Through this process, key stakeholders were able to successfully co‐design a social prescribing model of care for the region. Conclusion: By demonstrating the process and materials used in our project, we aim to open the 'black box' of co‐design for social prescribing and provide ideas and resources for others to adapt and utilise. Patient or Public Contribution: The project was designed and undertaken by a steering committee comprising university‐based researchers (authors C. O. and S. B.), local government (author D. A.) and health, social and community services (authors B. G., M. W., J. O. and S. R.). Members of the steering committee participated in project design, participant recruitment, workshop facilitation, data analysis and interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses panel data drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to provide new evidence of the links between unemployment, wages, job security, financial security and workers' well-being for workers in flexible employment. Our findings indicate that workers in flexible employment encounter more unemployment and experience increased job insecurity; unemployment is associated with wage penalties. Lower wages, job insecurity and financial insecurity affect well-being. However, these negative outcomes are mitigated by longer job tenure. Our results have implications for moves towards a flexicurity model of employment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURF) data from the 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Survey of Ageing, Disability and Carers (SDAC) to estimate the proportion of Australians with disability and an employment restriction who are not in the labour force and who want to work. This result was 24-26 per cent depending on the treatment of various survey responses. This represents a pool of 200,000 persons not in the labour force with disability who state they can work. This work intention rate is higher than the EU average overall, but tends to be lower than the EU average for older men and higher for younger women with disability outside of the labour market. The OECD integration model for persons with disability has relied upon the EU average work intention rate. This analysis applies the SDAC work intention rate to the OECD model. The SDAC data combined with updated population and labour force projections validate the previous conclusion of the OECD model: that in Australia allowing people with disability who want to work to enter find employment would reduce the fiscal gap caused by the ageing of the population by roughly a quarter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian Indigenous people continue to experience low economic independence and acknowledged social dislocations believed to be underpinned by unattractive levels of participation in the labour market. Recent legal developments provide foundation for mining operators, the Australian governments, and Indigenous traditional owners to negotiate land-use agreements that feature commitment to deliver greater training and employment prospects for Aboriginal people. However, aspirations of Australian Indigenous people, who are deficient in written English expression, to obtain entry to new mainstream jobs are seriously curbed when confronted with recruitment processes requiring competencies in English reading and writing skills. In this paper is reported an assessment of an innovative recruitment process, devoid of the need to demonstrate English literacy skills, for Indigenous people seeking mainstream jobs in the mining sector. The relative features of the scheme are discussed in the context of a multinational mining company operating in northern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates three potential sources of Australia's manufacturing productivity gains from trade liberalisation in the mid-1990s: the exit of inefficient establishments, economies of scale, and the reduction in x-inefficiency via employment reduction. We use manufacturing establishment level data and exploit the intersectoral variation in the effective rates of assistance (ERA) to see how businesses adjusted to trade liberalisation during the period. We find the documented productivity gains to be mostly accounted for by the reduction in x-inefficiency through employment shedding in industries experiencing a high degree of trade liberalisation. We find little evidence that the exit of inefficient establishments in highly liberalised industries contributes to productivity gains. In fact, we find that the more productive establishments are more likely to exit, perhaps reflecting product switching by these businesses to make more profitable use of inputs. Similarly, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between the extent of trade liberalisation and output adjustments. However, we do find indicative evidence of an overall productivity-enhancing effect through economies of scale. These findings suggest that, at least for the case of Australia, the ease of making employment adjustments can be crucial for policies such as trade liberalisation to have the desired effect. In addition, trade liberalisation may provide incentives for domestic producers to seek more profitable use of their inputs and to move further downward along their cost curves. We think further studies assessing the productivity gains from product switching and economies of scale effects in both liberalised and non-liberalised industries and focusing on the interplay between labour market policy and firm adjustments would be valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many temporary agency workers receive poorer pay and employment conditions than workers performing similar tasks under traditional, direct hire arrangements. This is due to a number of factors, especially the failure in practice of employment regulation developed for standard employee—employer employment arrangements to be fully applicable in such indirect employment arrangements. This paper examines agency workers’ employment rights both against the standards of the International Labour Organization’s core labour rights, and in relation to occupational health and safety performance. The analysis demonstrates how a third party, the host employer, can influence the employment conditions of agency employees, yet bear limited responsibility for whether they satisfy minimum standards. These remain duties of the agency employer. The paper identifies a need to reconsider the legal responsibility of hosts and agency employers towards agency workers. Sharing responsibilities between hosts and agency employers may improve the likelihood of closing the gap between agency and direct hire workers’ employment conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examined the impact of certain work-related variables on older workers' intentions to continue paid work and whether the impact of these workrelated variables varies between men and women. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of a sample of 379 employees, aged 50 years and older, working in a large public sector organisation in Australia. Results identified the work-related variables that influence older workers' intentions to continue paid work as importance of work, flexibility and interests outside of work, irrespective of gender. Results also indicated that a greater understanding can result if differences between males' and females' intentions are examined. The findings suggest a significant level of differentiation, based on gender, in relation to autonomy, work environment and interests outside work. Management will need to consider these important work-related variables in addressing attrition and turnover challenges and formulating human resource forecasts and specific strategies for increasing the retention of older workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper notes how long-term unemployment has been replaced with long-term underemployment and examines the role of the Job Network in this new environment. The paper discusses how the structure of unemployment has changed, how the Job Network has evolved and comments on its performance. It is noted that the Job Network has become more and more driven by tightly specified processes and services supported by an ever tighter compliance regime. This business model has much in common with franchising and this analogy is used to interpret the observed outcomes and the concerns expressed by providers and other interested parties. The paper concludes that there are some inherent problems with the franchising model and suggests that less prescriptive arrangements may be preferable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses data from the University of Western Australia (UWA) Graduate Destination Survey linked to information from the University's Student Records System to explore the determinants of graduates' starting salaries over the years 2002 to 2004. While the details examined also include age, gender, language spoken at home, country of birth, disability status and high school attended, most emphasis is placed on the impact on starting salaries of students' academic performance and their field of study. The analyses show that the main determinant of graduates' starting salaries is the weighted average mark they achieve at university. The salary differentials associated with higher marks in the Australian labour market appear greater than those reported in similar studies of the US and the UK labour markets. Science graduates are shown to have relatively low starting salaries, casting a shadow over recent suggestions that the supply of this group be increased through lower fee regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates if conclusions regarding labour market hysteresis differ depending on whether employment or unemployment rates are studied. Applying a range of unit-root tests to monthly data from Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the UK and the USA, we find results for employment rates that contrast those based on unemployment rates. In particular, rather than the mixed evidence for hysteresis found using unemployment rates, employment rates result in unequivocal evidence of hysteresis in Australia, Canada and the USA. These findings cast doubt on previous conclusions in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]