Here are 10 trends worth noting from this year’s huge Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. For starters, household spending on energy fell, even as power prices rose.
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Most Australian workers are fairly relaxed about their own job security, but they do worry about the risks of poor management and outsourcing to cheaper labour.
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, out today, found women exhibiting much lower levels of financial literacy than men. How do you score?
Australian media ownership is already among the most concentrated in the world, but if the competition regulator approves the Nine-Fairfax deal, expect the race for survival to produce more mergers.
Specific predictions go obsolete fast, but some common themes are emerging – convenience, fragmentation, intelligence, personalisation and experience.
Property prices have soared in the past decade, but much more modest increases in rent, with the exception of Sydney, suggest less of an imbalance of supply and demand for housing as a place to live.
As with economic growth and wages, the RBA’s response seems to involve crossing as many fingers and toes as possible and publicly proclaiming that things are looking good.
Inequality is being driven by a focus on maximising shareholder value to the exclusion of other stakeholders.
Family day care workers have much in common with home-based workers in the garment industry. But the latter are classed as employees, resulting in better representation and protected work conditions.
A trial of a four-day working week shows that employees felt better about their job, were more engaged and reported better work-life balance and less stress.
With most new jobs going to women, their workforce participation rate is growing at nine times the rate for men. But, while participation is on track for parity in a decade, pay is another matter.
The evidence suggests the impact of CEOs on company performance isn’t enough to justify their sky-high pay, which is really based more on a culture of power and privilege.
Migrants have similar home ownership rates to the overall population and rely less on public housing. But housing supply shortfalls and higher prices have reduced ownership among recent migrants.
Pressure to meet ever-higher performance targets can lead to misconduct of the sort exposed by the royal commission. Targets need to operate within a framework of ethical governance to avoid this.
The NBN is on track to be privatised after the infrastructure is completed, but there are a number of other options that would retain the benefits of its disruption of the telecommunications market.
A big increase in employment but the unemployment is flat. Addressing this will be a challenge as all our options have downsides.
Personal income taxpayers are shouldering more of the burden, while less revenue is coming from taxes on companies, capital and consumption. Only major reforms will change these sustained trends.
Tech companies overseas are signing collective agreements with their employees. Might Australia be next?
Many children receive gift cards or even ask for them so they can choose their own presents. But are youngsters ready to handle the wiles of advertisers and the complexities of ‘credit’ on a card?
There is even more research showing open-plan environments can actually have negative impacts on collaboration. Workspaces should provide various options for different work styles and preferences.
Many vulnerable workers aren’t covered for work-related injuries and illness. Employment law is largely a federal matter while compensation schemes are state-run, but there’s a way to fix the problem.
News that Australian CEO pay has soared to a 17-year high at a time when ordinary workers’ wages are flatlining is ultimately bad news for economic growth and prosperity.
There is very little evidence that overall labour market insecurity is getting any worse. Trends are stable for rates of casualisation, churn, self-employment and multiple job holders.
The strong reaction to plastic bag bans is because consumers feel supermarkets violated an unspoken agreement.
The Pakistani women who make the majority of the world’s high-quality soccer balls belong to one of the most vulnerable groups in the global economy.