The job network and underemployment

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

Labour markets and wages in Australia: 2008

The Australian economy in 2008 was one of contrasts: the resource based states continued to grow at relatively higher rates than the remainder; wage and employment outcomes varied widely for different groups in the labour force; and domestic climate change policies achieved prominence just as a global economic downturn lead to rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions. Within this rapidly changing context, ongoing concerns with labour utilization, wage equity and issues of compliance appear likely to grow in significance

WorkChoices and family-friendly working hours: An assessment of data sources

When the Australian Federal Government introduced the WorkChoices legislation in 2006, one of its stated aims was to facilitate the negotiation of 'family-friendly' employment arrangements. This article assesses our capacity to achieve an accurate picture of 'family-friendly' arrangements in the new regulatory regime and examines the adequacy of publicly available indicators of women's employment status. We focus specifically on the capacity of current data to monitor 'family-friendly' employment arrangements in the form of flexible working hours and find that while there are a range of potential indicators, few will give a complete assessment of how women are faring. We conclude that there is ample capacity to reduce the fragmentation of currently available information and to increase the regularity with which it is collected. There is also a need for additional research to determine the indicators that might be most relevant to women in vulnerable positions in the workforce

Who to serve? The ethical dilemma of employment consultants in nonprofit disability employment network organisations

The Welfare-to-work policy, implemented in July 2006 by the Federal Government, imposed a new work and activity obligation on people applying for the Disability Support Pension. This requirement not only created a new obligation for people with disability but also for employment consultants working in nonprofit Disability Employment Network organisations to monitor the conduct of this new cohort on behalf of Centrelink. For many employment consultants traditionally drawn to the nonprofit disability sector for altruistic reasons, this has created an ethical dilemma between their duty to their employer, and acting in the best interests of their clients. Drawing on aspects of ethical theory we find that, although most employment consultants justify their actions in terms of duty to the organisation, some find themselves in an ethical dilemma of 'who to serve' when the interests of the organisation and the welfare of the client are mismatched