Employment White Paper

Access to high quality jobs drives future earnings, particularly for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those without university degrees. Improving training and development for young people within businesses reduces recruitment costs, allows for more targeted responses to skills shortages, results in a more efficient allocation of labour and creates longer-term career pathways.

Currently Australia has one of the OECD’s lowest rates of employment-based training. Only a structural shift in the way employers design and support high-quality jobs tied to training will reverse this trend.

Our research with employers suggests there are five potential levers: financial incentives; employer supports; reforming pre-employment programs; increasing the use of apprenticeships in different sectors; and using government purchasing power to drive change.

We propose that the Commonwealth review its employment programs to ensure that they support people into quality jobs, recognising that placement in poor quality jobs undermines efforts to develop a better skilled, more resilient workforce.

We propose that the Commonwealth identify increased ‘social mobility’ as an explicit policy priority.

We also highlight the role of charities as an often overlooked but crucial part of the labour market, employing around one in ten workers, and the unique challenges of charities in the care sector in creating quality jobs. We ask that the Commonwealth ensure that policy and funding arrangements designed to improve labour market productivity and participation also take account of the unique needs of the charitable sector.