Jobs a-plenty.
AP Photo/Danny Johnston
The unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in 17 years and is very close to a 50-year low. Does that mean we’re at full employment?
Large companies control 88% of the agricultural export market.
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Smaller Australian businesses are more productive than larger ones, but have disproportionately low levels of exports and wages.
The key reason for the squeeze on household spending and saving is of course the ongoing weakness in the growth rate of household disposable income.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The government says personal income tax cuts are needed to provide relief from low wages and high cost of living, but will tax cuts make up for that?
One of the paradoxes of wage policy is that ultimately governments are held responsible and blamed for poor results, but governments are but one player in a complex system of wage adjustment.
Lukas Coch/AAP
History tells us governments do not always get what they wish for, and in fact often perverse outcomes flow from policy choices.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson, speaking on Q&A.
ABC Q&A
On Q&A, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said almost 60% of small business owners in Australia are paid $50,000 or less. Is that right?
As ACTU secretary, Sally McManus has proven effective at elevating the debate over workplace reform.
AAP/Alex Murray
Even with the most favourable laws, unions will still need to confront the reality of a dramatic transformation in the world of work.
In Australia, wage growth is lagging productivity growth across most sectors of the economy.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The productivity gains businesses get some automating some jobs, aren’t being passed on to workers in higher wages, evidence shows.
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Trump touted his administration’s economic successes and laid out his immigration plan in an 80-minute speech to Congress. Our experts weigh in.
Having a bullhorn is nice, but workers need more to elevate their voices.
AP Photo/David Goldman)
Although over 200 CEOs have promised to share windfalls from the recent tax cut with their employers – something the president is likely to bring up in the State of the Union – research suggests workers aren’t holding their breath.
Slightly more optimistic economic figures gives Scott Morrison and the Turnbull government a boost heading into 2018, as the charts explain.
Lukas Coch/AAP and The Conversation
Seven charts on the highlights from the government’s mid year update of the budget.
Retail Food Group (RFG) Managing Director Andre Nell (right) and Chairman Colin Archer. The company has been the focus of the latest investigation into franchise problems.
Dan Peled/AAP
There are some hallmark problems within franchising in Australia and internationally and not all are within the franchisor’s or franchisees’ control to fix.
Politicians like Malcolm Turnbull try to target middle class Australians.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Use our calculator to work out whether you’re an “average” Australian where you live.
Post-war Australia experienced a boom with full employment and falling inequality.
State Library of Queensland
The federal government could restore its commitment to creating full employment in Australia, using its spending power to make up for any shortfall in private jobs as it did during the post-war boom.
Treasurer Scott Morrison is eager to point out jobs growth, but wages growth remains stubbornly slow.
Daniel Munoz/AAP
The narrative that Australia has “transitioned from the mining boom successfully” seems a lot like wishful thinking.
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italianestro/Shutterstock
Putting money into the hands of local communities will be a more useful antidote to the whims of world capitalism.
Shoppers browse at a Sears Canada store in Toronto in October after the company began liquidation sales. Its retirement funds are short $308 million, forcing a 19 per cent cut to employee pensions.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)
Sears Canada’s bankruptcy should alert employees and regulators alike to rethink defined-benefit pensions.
Where are the benefits from all that hard work?
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Workers are more productive than ever and earning the same amount. So shouldn’t they be working less?
AAP
Treasurer Scott Morrison recently asserted that an increase in profits is a prerequisite for wages growth. But is his position supported by data?
Is the jobs glass half full or half empty?
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Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable claims there is no evidence that immigration impacts wages. Is he right?
Since the mid 1970s and especially since the 1980s the job market changed and so did how our wages are set.
Ryan Derry/Flickr
Austraila’s minimum wages now operate in relative isolation. Until the 1990s they were part of an inter-connected system.