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Read below some of the recent research updates from the Centre for Future Work.
Million jobs not so impressive
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, campaigning desperately for re-election, made headlines last week with a promise to create over a million jobs in the next five years. He harkened back to a similar promise made by Tony Abbott before the 2013 election (remember him? That was 2 Prime Ministers ago!). Since Australia’s labour market has indeed created over 1 million jobs since then, Morrison claimed the government has fulfilled its promise – and should be entrusted with the economic levers for another term. (Keep in mind, the government didn’t actually create those jobs: in fact, direct Commonwealth public service employment actually fell by 10,000 positions over that period.)
Is a million jobs in five years really cause to pop the champagne corks? It turns out that with a working age population of over 20 million, growing rapidly (at 1.6% per year), Australia needs to create over one million new jobs every five years – just to keep up with population growth, and maintain labour market balances in their present state. Moreover, the number of jobs created since 2013 is misleading: almost half of those jobs were part-time, mostly in low-wage, casual positions. By dividing a certain amount of hours of work into smaller part-time bits (rather than traditional full-time positions), the absolute number of jobs is inflated. But many Australians are left with not enough work or income to support themselves.
One day after Mr. Morrison’s pledge, the Centre for Future Work released a perfectly timed and thoroughly documented review of Australia’s labour market performance since 2013. It showed that the quantity of new work created since 2013 has been mediocre at best, relative both to historical experience and to the needs of our growing population. Moreover, the quality of work has declined considerably. Far from representing a historic achievement, Australia’s ho-hum jobs performance actually represents a lost opportunity.
Please read the full study, What’s A Million, Anyway? Australia’s 2013-18 Job Creation in Historical Perspective, by Jim Stanford, Troy Henderson, and Matt Grudnoff. Also check out media coverage of our report in ABC News, the Sydney Morning Herald, and elsewhere. Finally, this op-ed by Jim Stanford at 10Daily sums up the key arguments.
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