Managing an ageing population for income adequacy and fiscal sustainability. This project aims to improve understanding of the impacts of existing key reforms intended to ease fiscal pressures associated with population ageing. The right mix of retirement income policies is vital to Australia's fiscal sustainability, however the effectiveness of existing policies is unknown. The project expects to identify impacts of key reforms on employment, re-training, income, savings and future retirement i ....Managing an ageing population for income adequacy and fiscal sustainability. This project aims to improve understanding of the impacts of existing key reforms intended to ease fiscal pressures associated with population ageing. The right mix of retirement income policies is vital to Australia's fiscal sustainability, however the effectiveness of existing policies is unknown. The project expects to identify impacts of key reforms on employment, re-training, income, savings and future retirement income and public pension receipt. The project will develop a new tax records-based dataset to facilitate future research on tax and welfare systems.Read moreRead less
Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the firs ....Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the first time provide critical empirical evidence on the possible need to separate policy measures aimed at rural vs. urban employers. The outcomes will contribute to reducing the problem of critical skill shortages and wastage at once and do so with an eye to the needs to rural Australia – a key driver of the country’s exports. Read moreRead less
Insecure Work and the Mental Health of Workers and their Families. This project aims to explore the relationship between insecure work and mental health by applying advanced econometric methods to large survey and administrative datasets, and newly collected survey data. This project expects to provide causal policy-relevant estimates of how insecure work is affecting the wellbeing of workers and their families, and for whom the effects are most harmful. It also expects to inform on how poor men ....Insecure Work and the Mental Health of Workers and their Families. This project aims to explore the relationship between insecure work and mental health by applying advanced econometric methods to large survey and administrative datasets, and newly collected survey data. This project expects to provide causal policy-relevant estimates of how insecure work is affecting the wellbeing of workers and their families, and for whom the effects are most harmful. It also expects to inform on how poor mental health influences the types of jobs that people enter into. This should provide significant benefits, including evidence needed to improve existing workplace and employment programs, and evidence ensuring that assistance is efficiently targeted to those workers and industries with the greatest need.Read moreRead less
Achieving a Skilled and Sustainable Aged Care Workforce for Australia. Demand for aged care services in Australia has reached record levels and is set to rise steeply due to population ageing. The Productivity Commission identified the sector’s need to provide more care services, to expand consumer-directed care and to improve the quality of care. Currently, there is little evidence as to how the workforce can expand and change to meet these challenges. This project aims to provide new evidence ....Achieving a Skilled and Sustainable Aged Care Workforce for Australia. Demand for aged care services in Australia has reached record levels and is set to rise steeply due to population ageing. The Productivity Commission identified the sector’s need to provide more care services, to expand consumer-directed care and to improve the quality of care. Currently, there is little evidence as to how the workforce can expand and change to meet these challenges. This project aims to provide new evidence on how to attract, retain and up-skill workers in a rapidly expanding demand environment, as the sector strives to achieve a sustainable and skilled workforce fit for the future needs of older Australians.Read moreRead less
Creating effective employment solutions for youth with psychosis. Young people with severe mental illness face the general difficulty of finding paid work, and the specific difficulty of finding employment which can accommodate their health needs. Without early intervention, and access to supported employment, health and rehabilitation services, these young Australians face long-term welfare dependency. This Project will identify leading international models that provide supported employment for ....Creating effective employment solutions for youth with psychosis. Young people with severe mental illness face the general difficulty of finding paid work, and the specific difficulty of finding employment which can accommodate their health needs. Without early intervention, and access to supported employment, health and rehabilitation services, these young Australians face long-term welfare dependency. This Project will identify leading international models that provide supported employment for young people with psychosis and examine why such effective and integrated support models have not been implemented domestically. The Project will then develop a detailed policy and funding framework to facilitate the adoption or adaptation of international best practice in Australia.Read moreRead less
Developing sustainable retirement policy in a Chinese province: the case of Zhejiang. Much Chinese national policy has its origins in provincial initiatives, and this is especially true of retirement policy, where information about individuals is held by provinces. This project examines Zhejiang Province, one of the most innovative in policy. It promises to yield rich insights into retirement policy formulation in China.
Enforcing labour standards in supply chains through voluntary frameworks. This project aims to investigate the potential of multi-stakeholder initiatives to ensure the enforcement of labour standards in supply chains by examining the cleaning accountability framework - an initiative comprised of diverse representatives in the commercial cleaning supply chain in Australia. It is expected that this will result in the development of new regulatory methods/technology to improve compliance. This is e ....Enforcing labour standards in supply chains through voluntary frameworks. This project aims to investigate the potential of multi-stakeholder initiatives to ensure the enforcement of labour standards in supply chains by examining the cleaning accountability framework - an initiative comprised of diverse representatives in the commercial cleaning supply chain in Australia. It is expected that this will result in the development of new regulatory methods/technology to improve compliance. This is expected to improve the quality of life of vulnerable workers in supply chains and the mitigation of reputational risk for business.
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A Review of Work for the Dole as a Labour Market Program. The project will review the Work for the Dole program in terms of its first formal objective (to install work habits in young people)and in the wider context of giving young unemployed people the skills and confidence that will increase their chances of finding employment. The principal research tools used will be sample surveys and in-depth interviews. An independent substantial review will give a firm basis for discussions of the progr ....A Review of Work for the Dole as a Labour Market Program. The project will review the Work for the Dole program in terms of its first formal objective (to install work habits in young people)and in the wider context of giving young unemployed people the skills and confidence that will increase their chances of finding employment. The principal research tools used will be sample surveys and in-depth interviews. An independent substantial review will give a firm basis for discussions of the program, including how it can be improved and whether or not, given the political imperatives to retain it,it is desirable to increase expenditure on it.Read moreRead less
The long term causal effects of Vietnam War era conscription on economic and social outcomes for Australian conscripts. The project will inform veterans' compensation, military and retirement income policies. A perennial policy issue is how best to re-integrate veterans into society. Our preliminary analysis suggests very different effects of conscription in Australia to the USA, particularly on employment. This may reflect different systems of benefits, which we will investigate. A greater unde ....The long term causal effects of Vietnam War era conscription on economic and social outcomes for Australian conscripts. The project will inform veterans' compensation, military and retirement income policies. A perennial policy issue is how best to re-integrate veterans into society. Our preliminary analysis suggests very different effects of conscription in Australia to the USA, particularly on employment. This may reflect different systems of benefits, which we will investigate. A greater understanding of the effects of conscription will also inform policy makers of the full cost to society of military service and participation in conflict. Since veterans are entitled to retirement pensions earlier than non-veterans, we also investigate the effects of benefit eligibility on employment outcomes amongst older men.Read moreRead less
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