The role of the front line in welfare to work. This project aims to examine the front-line in Australia's primary site of welfare reform - the Job Network. Developed within the genre of street-level policy research, the project intends to examine that point of the policy process where actual outcomes are generated - a site which is largely overlooked in policy research, but which is integral to a comprehensive understanding of how policy works. From the perspective of the long-term unemployed, t ....The role of the front line in welfare to work. This project aims to examine the front-line in Australia's primary site of welfare reform - the Job Network. Developed within the genre of street-level policy research, the project intends to examine that point of the policy process where actual outcomes are generated - a site which is largely overlooked in policy research, but which is integral to a comprehensive understanding of how policy works. From the perspective of the long-term unemployed, the research will explore what works in the relationship between clients and their case managers. It will also explore the experiences of engagement and re-engagement with employment as a consequence of Job Network assistance.Read moreRead less
Balancing trust and control in the provision of employment services: comparing outcomes for disability employment service users. The Australian government is committed to assisting marginalised job seekers and increasing employment participation as part of its Social Inclusion Agenda. This research will assist the government achieve its social inclusion goals by analysing key elements of the new generation of employment services and generating comparative information about the relative effective ....Balancing trust and control in the provision of employment services: comparing outcomes for disability employment service users. The Australian government is committed to assisting marginalised job seekers and increasing employment participation as part of its Social Inclusion Agenda. This research will assist the government achieve its social inclusion goals by analysing key elements of the new generation of employment services and generating comparative information about the relative effectiveness of different service delivery models currently operating in the Job Network and the Disability Employment Network. Read moreRead less
Assessing performance: designing a better performance management framework for disability employment services. The Australian Government is committed to providing the "best possible" service to assist people with disability find employment in the open labour market. This project will develop a performance management framework for disability employment services which includes indicators of service quality as well as employment outcomes.
From entitlement to experiment: The new governance of welfare to work. This project aims to model and explain the governance dynamics of welfare to work in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Australia regularly undertakes major governance reforms in providing welfare to the unemployed and other groups in need. In this dynamic environment, welfare agencies are struggling to deliver benefits to the most disadvantaged people. Services must balance the need to meet central performance re ....From entitlement to experiment: The new governance of welfare to work. This project aims to model and explain the governance dynamics of welfare to work in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Australia regularly undertakes major governance reforms in providing welfare to the unemployed and other groups in need. In this dynamic environment, welfare agencies are struggling to deliver benefits to the most disadvantaged people. Services must balance the need to meet central performance requirements against the desire to help clients. The project aims to create a new framework for understanding how policy instruments and design experiments can improve services for those who are in need.Read moreRead less
The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretic ....The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretically informed, and practically tested, model of how digitalisation can promote service design and policy innovation that benefits jobseekers and employers. This should provide significant benefits for welfare system design, service outcomes, and policy learning nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Work/Life Balance, Well-Being and Health: Theory, Practice and Policy. This project links to the national research priority of promoting and maintaining good health in two ways. It establishes a new annual national measure of work/life balance, a critical element of good health and well-being, assisting understanding about work/life conflict and informing workplace and government policy responses to it, strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. Deep study of work/life issues in the h ....Work/Life Balance, Well-Being and Health: Theory, Practice and Policy. This project links to the national research priority of promoting and maintaining good health in two ways. It establishes a new annual national measure of work/life balance, a critical element of good health and well-being, assisting understanding about work/life conflict and informing workplace and government policy responses to it, strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. Deep study of work/life issues in the health sector will also inform recruitment, retention and well-being in the health workforce, with flow-on to the health system more broadly. The project includes analysis of 'pre-retirement' work/life issues, also linking to the 'ageing well, ageing productively' priority. Read moreRead less
Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produc ....Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produce macro-level mapping of post-pandemic national work/care regimes, and micro-level survey data on young people’s experience of and attitudes to the future of work in Australia, the UK and Japan, to deliver insights on the gendered economic and social impact of the pandemic and inform a more inclusive global recovery.Read moreRead less
Improving the life chances of young disabled Australians. This project will determine the social and economic impact of disability on young people and identify why some young people experience more negative outcomes. The outcome will be a model of the impact of disability which can be used to guide and monitor progress towards Australia's social inclusion agenda for people with disabilities. A substantial benefit will be growth in Australia's capacity in disability disadvantage research.
Young people's understandings of the relation between work, the labour market and education: Their origins and effects. Young people's pathways between school and work have become much more diverse and complex than in the past. Yet the impact of family background on their education and employment outcomes has hardly changed. This project focuses on young people's perceptions of the relation between work, education and the labour market and the pathways open to them. Taking account of recent m ....Young people's understandings of the relation between work, the labour market and education: Their origins and effects. Young people's pathways between school and work have become much more diverse and complex than in the past. Yet the impact of family background on their education and employment outcomes has hardly changed. This project focuses on young people's perceptions of the relation between work, education and the labour market and the pathways open to them. Taking account of recent major changes in the youth labour market, the research aims to understand the role of these perceptions in shaping young people's choices and pathways, how these vary according to social background and experience, and how they affect employment outcomes.Read moreRead less
Indigenous participation in a low-carbon economy. Australia’s transition towards a low-carbon economy will cause changes in skill requirements and raises the need to maximise Aboriginal participation. This innovative project will provide a better understanding of what is required for this to occur and showcase a new way of developing educational and training strategies for Indigenous engagement.