Local Government Workforce Seminar
The seminar will highlight local government workforce trends, drawing on ABS workforce data stretching across multiple censuses.
Local Government Workforce: the Trends and the Blips on the Radar
In 2011, councils were amongst the largest employers in about 10% of all Local Government Areas nationally. Local government was also the only level of government to have met the Council of Australian Governments’ public sector targets for Indigenous employment. And the sector was well placed to smash the glass ceiling that often prevents gender equity in senior ranks.
But how is the workforce shaping up five years on? In this seminar, workforce data specialists from the UTS Institute for Public Policy & Governance and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will answer this question.
They will draw on a unique set of ABS workforce data stretching across multiple censuses to highlight trends shaping where local government is headed. The speakers will discuss:
- the 2016 census data as it relates to local government workforce,
- emerging trends in the local government workforce from 2006, 2011 and 2016,
- the public sector component of the ABS survey of employees’ earning and hours.
The seminar will unpack ABS data on the local government workforce and highlight its usefulness to Integrated Planning and Reporting, particularly resourcing strategies and workforce planning, as well as service delivery.
The seminar is highly topical in light of the Audit Office of New South Wales’ recent Performance Audit on Council Service Delivery Reporting. It will provide tips and tricks on how ABS workforce data can help build a comparative picture of local government service delivery efficiency, which the Audit Office identified as an area for improvement.
Local government staff, corporate planners and HR professionals in particular will benefit from the seminar, and be able to network with colleagues, ABS and UTS Institute for Public Policy & Governance staff.
Speakers
Lisa Conolly, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Australian Bureau of Statistics
Lisa has worked with the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 15 years, and has experience across the breadth of the ABS economic and social statistics programs. For the past 8 years, Lisa’s focus has been on providing a wide range of regional information from ABS and other government data sets. Prior to the ABS, Lisa spent 10 years working in Local Government including as Geographic Information Systems Manager and Community Planner. Lisa has an Executive Masters in Public Administration (Australian and New Zealand School of Government) and an Honours degree in Psychology (Macquarie University).
Professor Roberta Ryan, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance
Professor Roberta Ryan is a leading social researcher and policy, program evaluation and stakeholder engagement practitioner with over 30 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors. With a strong interest in the relationship between people and places she has worked in areas of community services, strategic planning, land use planning, sustainability, organisational change and development and citizen engagement. Roberta has completed over 300 social research and evaluation projects, and authored and co-authored numerous reports, journal articles, books and chapters. She is the co-author of the Institute's Local Government Workforce Profile publication.
Alex Lawrie, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance
Alex has years of experience applying specialist demographic analysis to challenges faced by governments. He is the co-author of the Institute’s Local Government Workforce Profile, which provided the first comprehensive picture of the local government workforce across Australia. The profile is one of the Institute’s most downloaded publications, and a vital resource for the local government sector. Alex has a keen interest working with public sector practitioners to apply demographic data to policy development and service delivery.