A new report by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute looks at the growing insecurity of work in Australia.

The report reviews 11 statistical indicators of the growth in employment insecurity over the last five years, including: part-time work, short hours, underemployment, casual jobs, marginal self-employment, and jobs paid minimum wages under modern awards.

All these indicators of job stability have declined since 2012, leading to a majority of Australian workers now experiencing one or more of these indicators of job – and less than half have access to what was once considered a ‘standard job’.

“Australians are rightly worried about the growing insecurity of work. We are now seeing less than half of employed Australians holding a ‘standard job’, with dependable hours, pay, and benefits” said Dr. Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work.

“In particular, many young people are giving up hope of finding a permanent full-time job – and if these trends continue, many of them never will.”

The report also documents the low and falling earnings received by workers in insecure jobs:

• While real wages for those in the best paid job category – permanent full-time jobs – have grown, wages for casual workers have declined.
• Part-time workers in marginal self-employed positions (including so-called ‘gig economy’ workers) have fared the worst, with real wages falling 26 percent in the last five years.

“Given current labour market conditions and lax labour standards, employers are able to hire workers on a ‘just-in-time’ basis, employing workers only when and where they are most needed and then tossing them aside afterwards,” said Dr Stanford.

“This insecurity imposes enormous risks and costs on workers, their families, and the whole economy.”

Dr. Stanford called on policy-makers to address growing job precarity with stronger rules to protect workers in insecure jobs, such as provisions for more stable schedules, and options to transition to from casual work to permanent positions. He also stressed the need for economic policies that target the creation of permanent full-time jobs.

New research from the Centre for Future Work at The Australia Institute demonstrates a strong connection between government spending and working conditions across the economy.

“Weak labour market conditions, including record-weak wage growth, could be improved by linking public spending in all forms to improved job quality and compensation,” said Dr. Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work.

The Centre for Future Work report finds three main avenues through which government spending could lift wages and working conditions:

1. Direct work and production undertaken within government and its departments and agencies (the public sector).
2. Arms-length service-producing organisations which depend on government funding (the non-profit sector).
3. Private-sector firms which supply government and public agencies with goods and services (the private sector).

“It is ironic that Treasurers are always praying for stronger wage growth with every year’s budget in order to generate stronger growth and stronger revenues. Yet governments don’t pursue obvious opportunities to actually achieve that wage growth by linking labour standards to their own expenditure policies,” said Dr Stanford.

“This is clearly a lost opportunity. Australia’s government sector is by far the single largest part of Australia’s economy.

“This economic footprint, if wielded consistently to achieve higher wages and better jobs, could have a powerful impact on labour market outcomes.”

Australian government economic footprint at a glance:

• Total expenditures of over $660 billion per year, equal to 36 percent of Australia’s GDP.
• Expenditures on current production of public goods and services of over $330 billion per year (18.5 percent of GDP), and further spending on capital investments of over $85 billion (another 5 percent of GDP).
• Direct public sector employment of close to 2 million workers, with millions more jobs indirectly dependent on government injections of spending power.
• Fiscal support for public and community services by arms-length non-profit agencies, worth at least another 4 percent of GDP.
• Goods and services procured from private-sector suppliers equivalent to around 10 percent of GDP (or about $175 billion per year).

The report, A Moment of Opportunity (download full report pdf below), identifies several indicators which suggest that the economic opportunities for domestic manufacturing have improved significantly.

The Centre for Future Work in The Australia Institute will host the National Manufacturing Summit: From Opportunity to Action at Parliament House on Wednesday 21 June 2017.  Speakers will include a wide range of experts from industry, university, trade union, and financial sectors, as well as four top political spokespersons: Minister for Industry Senator Arthur Sinodinos, Shadow Minister for Industry Senator Kim Carr, Greens Industry spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon, and NXT leader Senator Nick Xenophon.

“Australia’s manufacturing industry faces some daunting domestic and global challenges. But it’s not just surviving, it’s finding a way to grow, adding 40,000 new jobs last year,” Director of the Centre for Future Work, Dr Jim Stanford said.

“That ranks manufacturing as the second biggest source of new jobs in Australia last year.”

“Additionally, manufacturing re-invests 5% of its value added in R&D, the highest of any industry, making it an engine room for innovation in the economy.”

New polling released as part of the report shows that Australians are very supportive of pro-active, targeted policy measures to sustain and support manufacturing (see polling results below).

“Perhaps influenced by the negative tone of much recent commentary, Australians consistently underestimate the size of manufacturing in Australia’s economy, relative to other industries, but nonetheless recognise the value of maintaining a strong manufacturing sector.

Specifically, there was strong support for targeted policies such as government procurement mandates (81%) and tax incentives tied to investments in domestic facilities (79%); support was strong across all age and voting groups.  Australians opposed measures to attract industry by cutting wages, environmental standards, or across-the-board taxes.  But measures focused on manufacturing, tied to Australian production and jobs, received overwhelming support – by a margin of up to five-to-one.

“Both economically and politically, the smart move would be for legislators to get behind local manufacturing with targeted policies to support Australian jobs, ” Stanford said.

The Fair Work Commission’s decision to reduce penalty rates for Sundays and holidays in retail and hospitality jobs will reinforce wage stagnation and further widen income inequality, which is bad news for the economy as a whole, according to Dr. Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute.

“It’s painfully ironic that the Fair Work Commission’s decision was released just a day after the ABS confirmed the pace of Australian wages had already slowed to the worst in the history of their data,” Dr. Stanford said.

“With household incomes going nowhere, and the economy slowing accordingly, now is the time to support the wages of low-income workers, not suppress them further.”

“The economic argument that business will open longer, creating jobs has no basis. It will simply spread limited demand, and therefore jobs, over a longer period without increased employment.”

ABS data released on Wednesday showed annual wage increases in the year to December 2016 fell to just 1.87 percent. Wages in retail and hospitality already lag far behind economy-wide averages, and part-time and casual jobs are the norm.

“Worse yet, workers in these sectors also face widespread wage fraud and violation of minimum wage laws, as documented at employers like 7-11 stores and Domino’s Pizza.”

“By cutting Sunday and holiday penalty rates to as low as 125 percent, the Commission’s decision will significantly damage incomes for workers who already face precarious schedules and incomes.”

Dr. Stanford was especially critical of claims that lower weekend wages will spur new job-creation in retail and hospitality.

“It is elementary economics that employment in service sectors like retail and restaurants is constrained by the level of consumer demand, not by the level of wages.”

“Lower wages will not lead to lower prices, they cannot boost consumer spending, and they will not create new jobs.  In fact, by further suppressing labour incomes, this decision will undermine economic growth and job-creation even further.”

“The idea that more businesses will open up on a Sunday and this will lead to more employment is also flawed logic. Since total demand will remain unchanged, a business will simply sell the same amount over 7 days instead of 6 days,” Stanford said.

Read our previous polling of public attitudes to cutting penalty rates.

“This year, Go Home On Time Day will focus on the need for Australian workers to be entitled to, and to feel safe in taking their holiday leave,” Director of The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, Jim Stanford said.

The Centre for Future Work, which is coordinating this year’s event, published a report which revealed growing number of Australian workers do not qualify for, or are not taking their entitled paid holiday leave.

A study of 891 workers showed:

• Almost one-third (32%) don’t have access to paid holiday leave.
• Over half of those with annual leave didn’t take their whole entitlement.
• That result would equate, across the whole labour market, to 48 million unused holiday days, worth $11.1 billion – annually.

“About half of those who responded cited work-related pressures as inhibiting their leave: including being too busy, having too much to do, being reluctant to ask, or worried it would affect their job security or promotion chances.

“We don’t want to see a nation of empty beaches, unblackened sausages and grandparents waiting too long between visits.

“We do want to see refreshed workers who have had the chance to spend some quality time with their families,” Stanford said.

The Unpaid Overtime Calculator app has been used by thousands of Australians, collecting data on excessive hours of work, this year including the provision and use of holiday leave.

In addition to the growing inaccessibility of paid holidays, the survey data also revealed that the average full-time worker in Australia loses 5.1 hours per week to unpaid overtime – or 264 hours per year. Workers donate $116 billion dollars’ worth of hours to their bosses, every year.