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The 2023 State of the Future of Work Report is the first report from the Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative (WFHRI), a team of interdisciplinary researchers from The University of Melbourne. Drawing on data on the work experiences of 1,400 Australian workers since the pandemic, we identify four critical future of work themes: 1. Unsafe: Australians feel their work and workplaces are unsafe, sites of discrimination for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, caregivers and people living with chronic illnesses. 2. Unwell: Work, as it currently stands, is making many Australians unwell, with many working harder and reporting greater exhaustion than prepandemic, especially those in their prime working ages. 3. Uncertain: Australian workers have a limited understanding of how the upcoming technological changes driven by automation and artificial intelligence will impact their jobs, creating greater uncertainty. Work, as it currently stands, is rapidly changing, with many Australians unclear on how to keep up. 4. Opportunity: Despite these massive issues, Australian workers see greater opportunity to support workers to build happier, more satisfied work lives especially through the rise of flexible workplaces and flexible work practices.

From 2008–2019 there was a substantial deterioration in employment outcomes for the young (aged 15–24 years) in Australia. Their employment/population rate decreased by 4.3 percentage points, whereas for those aged 25 years and above it increased by 1 percentage point. We argue that the major cause was the young being ‘crowded out’ from employment due to an increase in labour market competition. Adjustment to increased competition also meant they were more likely to: be employed part-time or long-term unemployed; start their work careers in lower-quality jobs; and need to compete for jobs through activities such as unpaid internships.

We examine how rapid growth in imports of manufactured goods from China affected employment in Australia from 1991 to 2006. Alternative sources of variation in Chinese import exposure (at industry level and between local labour markets) are used to identify the effect on employment. Growth in imports from China is estimated to have reduced manufacturing employment by around 53,200 to 78,900 workers, representing 5.3 to 7.5 per cent of that workforce in 1991. Largest impacts are found for manufacturing industries most exposed to import competition from China; and from 2001 to 2006 when import growth was strongest.

From March to June 2020 was the most dramatic four months in the history of the Australian labour market. Never before has a such a substantial decrease in labour demand (and partial reversal) occurred so quickly. In this article, we present an overview of the early impact of COVID-19: the main drivers it brought into play and the consequent labour market developments. Aggregate effects and how impacts differed by type of job and worker are described. We conclude with a brief review of the main government response to COVID-19, the JobKeeper program.

BACKGROUND: High unemployment is a hallmark of psychotic illness. Individual placement and support (IPS) may be effective at assisting the vocational recoveries of young people with first-episode psychosis (FEP).AimsTo examine the effectiveness of IPS at assisting young people with FEP to gain employment (Australian and Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12608000094370). METHOD: Young people with FEP (n = 146) who were interested in vocational recovery were randomised using computer-generated random permuted blocks on a 1:1 ratio to: (a) 6 months of IPS in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) or (b) TAU alone. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 6 months (end of intervention), 12 months and 18 months post-baseline by research assistants who were masked to the treatment allocations. RESULTS: At the end of the intervention the IPS group had a significantly higher rate of having been employed (71.2%) than the TAU group (48.0%), odds ratio 3.40 (95% CI 1.17-9.91, z = 2.25, P = 0.025). However, this difference was not seen at 12- and 18-month follow-up points. There was no difference at any time point on educational outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest trial to our knowledge on the effectiveness of IPS in FEP. The IPS group achieved a very high employment rate during the 6 months of the intervention. However, the advantage of IPS was not maintained in the long term. This seems to be related more to an unusually high rate of employment being achieved in the control group rather than a gross reduction in employment among the IPS group.Declaration of interestNone.

This report presents initial findings on the impact on children and their primary caregivers after twelve months of enrollment in the Early Years Education Program (EYEP). EYEP is a model of early years care and education targeted at the particular needs of children who are exposed to significant family stress and social disadvantage. Children who participate in EYEP are offered three years of care and education (50 weeks per year, five hours per day each week). Key features of EYEP are high staff/child ratios, qualified and experienced staff, an infant mental health consultant in the team and a rigorously developed curriculum. A relationship-based pedagogy is used to ensure that children are ready for learning. The ultimate objective of EYEP is to ensure that at-risk and vulnerable children realise their full potential and arrive at school developmentally and educationally equal to their peers. The impact of EYEP is being evaluated through a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) as part of the Early Years Education Research Program (EYERP); otherwise referred to in this report as the ‘EYEP trial’. Children for whom consent was given to participate in the EYEP trial were randomly assigned into either an intervention group who were enrolled in EYEP or to a control group. Estimates of the impact of EYEP on children and their primary caregivers are derived from comparisons of outcomes between the intervention group and the control group. Measurement of outcomes described in this report took place twelve months after entry to the trial.

Coupled inductors can be used to connect cells in parallel in a voltage source inverter to increase both rated power and bandwidth. To successfully implement this strategy it is critical to achieve a balanced contribution to the output current by all paralleled cells. Circulating currents should also be controlled and minimized to prevent additional losses in the switching devices. This paper presents an effective method to achieve current sharing between inverter cells paralleled via magnetically coupled inductors, using a state feedback controller. Experimental results are presented validating the performance of the proposed balancing method.

Due to the presence of inherent double-line-frequency power ripple at the AC side, the operation of the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) can be significantly affected in single-phase DC-AC photovoltaic applications. To reduce the ripple power and enhance the MPPT performance, a large capacitor at the DC side is normally used. However, it can decrease the power density of the converter and cannot completely eliminate the ripple power. To mitigate the effect of power ripple, a single phase DC-AC Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter for photovoltaic applications is proposed. It is free of common large capacitors at DC power stages with the proposed control strategy. In this paper, a LC power decoupling circuit with the specific control strategy is proposed to completely eliminate the ripple power and thus realize high accuracy of MPPT.

The railway traction system that incorporates a slip controller provides a significant improvement in the adhesion between rail and train which can lead to increase in the traction force and wheel slip controllability. Due to the change of rail track and running speed, both slip and operating traction force keep changing. Therefore, there is a requirement of reliable identification of wheel-rail contact force properties and adhesion level for acceleration or braking controls to adapt to different track conditions. Since wheel slip controller shows many applications in the aspect of safety relevant features, such as slip control, emergency brake assistance, locomotive operation, etc. the proper estimation of traction force and the detection of maximum traction force between rail and wheels are very important factors in the railway industry. Furthermore, an advanced scheme with traction drive control is required to achieve the maximum adhesion level for a railway vehicle. This paper proposes a new identification technique scheme which is designed to regulate the torque reference according to the maximum traction force. The proposed scheme is built with Recursive Least Square (RLS) scheme to identify the peak slip level at maximum traction force with the searching technique based on the traction force estimated by a Kalman Filter. Furthermore, this scheme is also used to operate the traction system within the identified maximum traction force region. Simulation model validates that the proposed controller with identification scheme can control the train or locomotive to obtain its maximum adhesion force.

A LLC circuit is developed in this paper to reduce the DC source 100Hz ripple current in a DC-AC dual active bridge (DAB) converter by regulating the duty cycle of the primary side full bridge converter without utilizing additional switches. However, heavy duty cycle changes with relatively small capacitor of LLC circuit will result in the grid current distortion. To address this issue, a repetitive control is proposed to improve the quality of the grid current and related THD. Modulation scheme and ZVS turn-on conditions for both the primary and secondary converters are presented. A control model and a decoupling control strategy in synchronous dq frame for the DC-AC DAB converter are proposed. The proposed methods are examined through simulation tests and the results are presented.

This paper examines a charging/discharging scheme for Li-ion battery energy storage system used in renewable generation systems, with the view to minimize the growth of the solid-electrolyte interphase film and to prolong the battery life. A suitable reduced-order equivalent circuit model of the lithium-ion battery is developed based on electrochemistry. The model is used in the design of the battery power flow control scheme. By solving an optimization problem using dynamic programming algorithm, a computationally-efficient heuristic control strategy is further developed in accordance with the result of the optimization. The proposed new strategy is then compared with conventional dual-battery charging method to demonstrate the use of the proposed scheme can indeed extend the battery lifetime.

This article assesses the effect of computer-based technologies on employment in Australia. We find that: (i) the total amount of work available has not decreased following the introduction of computer-based technologies; and (ii) the pace of structural change and job turnover in the labour market has not accelerated with the increasing application of computer-based technologies. A review of recent studies that claim computer-based technologies may be about to cause widespread job destruction establishes several major flaws with these predictions. Our suggested explanation for why techno-phobia has such a grip on popular imagination is a human bias to believe that ‘we live in special times’.

We investigate changes in the occupation structure in Australia between 1966 and 2011, and the effect of these changes on the earnings distribution. Occupation changes exhibited job polarisation (growth in high and low skill jobs, declines in middle skill jobs) in the 1980s and 1990s and general upskilling in the 1970s and 2000s. Any job polarisation has been primarily a male phenomenon. Occupation changes were consistent with the loss of jobs that were high in routine task intensity. Changes in occupational composition and associated earnings changes contributed significantly to growth in overall earnings inequality from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s.

This article reviews developments in labour market inequality in Australia. First, descriptive information on changes in labour market inequality and on the causes of those changes is integrated with a summary of findings from recent research. Second, the effect of changes in labour market inequality on income inequality is evaluated. Third, evidence on differences in earnings and employment outcomes between specific groups - by gender, Indigenous status and country of birth - is considered. Finally, some suggestions for future research are presented.

© 2014 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. The purpose of this investigation was to understand how a sport-for-development event can be leveraged socially, and if event organizers created the best possible experiences for homeless participants through the creation of communitas and thus, social capital. We also examined the mechanisms through which liminality is cultivated and communitas can emerge, along with the means for leveraging liminality. It was found that liminality was cultivated and communitas materialized at this SFD event, as event organizers employed various processes to foster a liminoid space and develop community. Additional tactics were employed to leverage liminality and associated communitas for social capital development. We contribute to the research literature on event leveraging and also make important contributions to theory development. Implications are drawn forth for theory, practice, and future research.

BACKGROUND: Children who experience neglect and abuse are likely to have impaired brain development and entrenched learning deficiencies. Early years interventions such as intensive education and care for these children are known to have the potential to increase their human capital. The Early Years Education Program (EYEP) is a new program offered by the Children's Protection Society (CPS) in Melbourne, Australia. EYEP is targeted at the needs of children who have been or are at risk of being abused or neglected. It has the dual focus of seeking to address the consequences of abuse and neglect on children's brain development and redressing their learning deficiencies. Our objective is to determine whether EYEP can improve school readiness by conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of its impacts. METHODS/DESIGN: The RCT is being conducted with 90 participants (45 intervention and 45 control). Eligible children must be aged under three years and assessed as having two or more risk factors as defined in the Department of Human Services Best Interest Case Practice Model. The intervention group participate for three years (or until school entry) in EYEP. The trial does not provide any early years education or care to the control group. Data are being collected on outcome measures for participants in EYEP and the control group at the baseline, at yearly intervals for three years, and six months after commencing the first year of school. Outcome measures encompass children's health and development, academic ability and emotional and behavioural regulation; and quality of parenting practices. The study will evaluate the impact of EYEP on these outcomes, and undertake a benefit-cost analysis of the program. DISCUSSION: Findings from the study have the potential to influence the quality of care and education for the large population of children in Australia who are at risk of abuse and neglect, as well as for children in mainstream childcare. The study will provide u

Most studies on the use of sport with marginalized populations have centered upon the impact on participants, with few studies examining the impact of these interventions on other stakeholder groups, such as volunteers. While it has been contended that volunteering provides a form of social participation and civic engagement that can foster development of citizenship and social capital, these ideas are disputed and lack empirical evidence. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Street Soccer USA on its volunteers. Street Soccer USA uses soccer to provide a support system to homeless individuals for making positive life changes. The findings of this qualitative study with five teams in the United States revealed that volunteering fostered the preconditions for and actual social capital development by enhancing awareness and understanding about homelessness, building community and relationships with the homeless, enhancing passion to work in the social justice field, and developing self-satisfaction through a 'feel good' mentality. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the use of sport to aid in social capital development. By creating increased understanding and a sense of community between different social groups, greater community cohesion and more inclusive social capital can be developed. © The Author(s) 2011.

This article examines whether the player draft used since 1986 in the Australian Football League has caused clubs to tank; that is, to seek to lose matches to obtain improved draft choices. A comparison of clubs’ performances in regular season matches played before and after introduction of the draft provides no evidence that clubs have engaged in tanking. The main potential explanations for the absence of tanking in the Australian Football League are the relatively low benefits to clubs from tanking and limited opportunities for them to engage in this behavior.

This study examines the impact of the Jobseeker Diary (JSD), a program designed to increase the job search effort of unemployed persons in Australia. The JSD program is distinguished by combining a focus on work search verification with large scale implementation. Applying a quasi-experimental matching method to data on unemployment spells occurring in 1997–98, the authors find that JSD participation was associated with an increased rate of exit from unemployment payment recipiency and a shorter total time spent on payments. Payment receipt duration is estimated to have fallen for about one-half of JSD participants. The largest effects of the JSD occurred for payment recipients for whom labor demand conditions were the most favorable. Cost-benefit analysis suggests a fairly large net societal gain per program participant.

Preliminary analysis of the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey (NATSIS) indicates that arrest is one of the major factors underlying the poor employment prospects of the Indigenous population. Unfortunately, these early studies could not determine the direction of causality between arrest and employment. This paper addresses this problem by distinguishes the employment effect of the arrest from the effect of the unobservable characteristics of those arrested. The experience of arrest among Indigenous Australians reduces the probability of being in employment by between 13 to 20 per cent for males, and 7 to 13 per cent for females. Differences in arrest rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians may explain over 20 per cent of the difference in employment/population ratios between those groups. There are a number of reasons why arrest reduces employment prospects. If a person who has been arrested is stigmatised by employers, they are less likely to obtain employment Alternatively, employers may be deterred from locating in regions with high levels of criminal activity and hence there may be limited employment opportunities for persons living in those regions. On the supply side, contact with the criminal justice system may affect a person's motivation to work, or perceptions of the expected benefits from seeking employment. Unfortunately, it is not possible to distinguish between supply and demand side influences of arrest. This paper illustrates the importance of social factors in determining Indigenous employment. The significance of general socioeconomic indicators, such as whether a person voted in a recent election or whether they have a long-term health condition, means that labour economists should consider controlling for such factors, wherever possible. This study also confirms that removal from family environment has an adverse impact on the final socioeconomic status of individuals with the experience of arrest being t