Australia’s labour market experienced unprecedented volatility during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession. This report highlights several ways in which the pandemic has increased inequality in Australia, and reinforced the dominance of insecure work in the overall labour market.

This research, commissioned by health care industry super fund HESTA, finds that a planned transition of Australia’s labour market away from fossil fuel jobs could occur without involuntary layoffs or severe disruption to communities—if governments focus on a planned and fair transition.

This paper suggests that the failure of the Commonwealth to confirm that it will maintain funding for community service organisations could threaten up to 12,000 jobs in that sector, at a moment when those services are critical to Australia’s pandemic-damaged economy.

This research shows that Australia’s economy is now regressing in its use of new technology, with negative implications for productivity, incomes, and job quality. The report's findings contrast sharply with the common concern that robots and other forms of automation will threaten future job security for Australian workers.

This report describes the strategic importance of the manufacturing sector to Australia's future prosperity, and provides an inventory of policy tools that could help rebuild the sector to a size proportional to Australia's domestic needs for manufactured products.