Technological advances in recent decades, combined with rapid globalisation, have precipitated significant change in labour markets across the world. In Australia, the impact of these changes has manifested in a number of ways: the decline of some traditional industry sectors and the rise of others (most notably growth in the services sector); a shift in the occupational...]]>Mon, 1 Jun 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Social+area+differences+in+VET+participation.-a0205637479Introduction

The national VET strategy aims to ensure that Australian industry has a highly skilled workforce to support strong performance in the global economy (Objective no. 1). To meet this objective requires a responsive VET sector (and responsiveness in schools and higher education as well). But how well the sector responds to emerging skill needs is by no means only a matter of...]]>Mon, 1 Jun 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Changing+work+organisation+and+skill+requirements.-a0205637478Context

How work is organised is one of the most important factors in determining what skills workers need to do their jobs successfully. Many analysts have argued that recent decades have seen the beginnings of a revolution in work organisation, a revolution that continues and will have ever widening effects in the workforce. No longer will workers be successful if they are able only to...]]>Mon, 1 Jun 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Changing+forms+of+employment+and+their+implications+for+the...-a02056374771. Introduction

Vocational skills comprise any abilities that can be learned and that are valuable in the production of goods and services. They are not only learned from formal VET (or higher education) providers. They are learned also by formal and informal instruction on the job. People learn to be better, more efficient and more productive workers in the process of doing their jobs....]]>Sun, 1 Mar 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/What+is+a+skill+shortage%3f-a01965334571. Introduction (1)

A shortage of skills is a source of aggravation to firms, and when acute is likely to hamper the quality and quantity of their output. In a market economy, firms are accustomed to being limited by their capacity to find buyers for their products, not by their capacity to produce those products. When firms have buyers waiting, but cannot produce enough to satisfy the...]]>Sun, 1 Mar 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Skill+acquisition+and+use+across+the+life+course%3a+current+trends%2c...-a0196533456Introduction

People experience a series of major transitions during the course of their lives. These usually include the move from school directly to paid work or to postsecondary education, leaving the parental home, partnering and/or marriage, becoming a parent, farewelling dependent children as they set up independent households, and retirement. Life course researchers have confirmed...]]>Sun, 1 Mar 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Demographic+impacts+on+the+future+supply+of+vocational+skills.-a0196533455I. Introduction

The ageing of the Australian population has become an issue of substantial national significance, with the Federal Treasurer's Intergenerational Report (Costello, 2002, 2004) drawing attention to the closing gap in the ratio of working age to retiree populations. One dimension of this is the ageing of the national workforce. Two key features of Australia's demographic...]]>Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Future+skill+needs%3a+projections+%26+employers'+views.-a0192257869Introduction

The purpose of this study is to project future demand for the types of skills provided by the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. The main question guiding our projections is: what will be the demand for vocational skills over the next five to ten years? In the course of projecting skill needs across certain industries and occupations, we assess how...]]>Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Forecasting+future+demands%3a+what+we+can+and+cannot+know.-a01922578681. Introduction

The vocational education and training (VET) sector seeks to teach courses that will meet the future demands from employers in terms of the quantity and type of skills required. If changes in the quantity and type of vocational skills that are needed by employers can be anticipated, then we can avoid the development of redundant capacity (in people and in teaching...]]>Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+well-skilled+future.-a0192257867What is a Well-Skilled Future?

Skills are expensive to deliver and expensive to acquire. Not only do they require the time and money of students; they also demand effort, persistence, a willingness to be taught and exposure to unfamiliar tasks and ideas. Because acquiring skills is difficult and expensive, it is important to have an idea of how much is enough. A well-skilled future is...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Skill%3a+an+elusive+and+ambiguous+concept+in+labour+market+studies.-a0180969802
Abstract

The concept of skill and its measurement has been central in contemporary discussions of labour market issues. Such issues as the rise in earnings inequality and changes to the skill composition of employment have served to highlight the limitations of definitions of skill and the problems that these pose for analysis of labour market changes. This paper argues...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Labour+force+projections%3a+a+case+study+of+the+Greater+Metropolitan...-a0180969801
Abstract

There is a fundamental gap in our understanding of the complexity and uncertainty in projecting and analysing the supply of labour at a regional level, due mainly to the lack of longitudinal data and difficulties in determining suitable models for prediction. This study takes the Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA) of New South Wales as a case study to investigate...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Jarhead+and+deskilling+in+the+military%3a+potential+implications+for...-a0180969800
Abstract

This paper uses a popular culture medium to examine the notion of deskilling in one particular sector, viz., the military. Jarhead was released to cinemas in 2005 and follows the experiences of United States Marine, Anthony Swofford, in the first Gulf War of the early 1990s. We witness the central character undergo intensive training to become one of the...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fighting+back%3a+workplace+sexual+harassment+and+the+case+of+North...-a0180969799
Abstract

Sexual harassment in the workplace has been documented as a widespread and damaging phenomenon. Less well examined, however, are the tactics used by perpetrators to inhibit outrage about the harassment or the counter-strategies which can be used by women to oppose these tactics. This study, using the framework of backfire theory (Scott and Martin 2006),...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Information+privacy+and+employee+records+in+Australia%3a+which+way...-a0180969798
Abstract

In 2000, the Howard Liberal-National Coalition Government enacted the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act. This Act exempted employee records from privacy protection, and was justified by the Government on the ground that employee records protection was better addressed under workplace relations legislation. In February 2004, after much criticism of the exemption,...]]>Sat, 1 Mar 2008 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+extent+and+nature+of+exits+from+the+disability+support+pension+*.-a0180969797
Abstract

This study uses administrative records for recipients of the Disability Support Pension (DSP) over the period 1995 to 2002 to investigate the extent and nature of exits from DSP, with particular emphasis on exits due to take up of employment. The analysis shows that, consistent with the long-term nature of the DSP payment, all exits in a given year amount to less...]]>Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+right+to+request+flexible+working%3a+a+'very+British'+approach+to...-a0173643848
Abstract

The UK has introduced an unusual right for parents of young children to be able to request a change to their working arrangements, and an obligation on employers to consider such requests seriously. This paper examines why such a right was adopted in the UK, and assesses its impact. Different models of gender equality are examined and the argument made that movement...]]>Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Budgeting+for+work--life+balance%3a+the+ideology+and+politics+of+work...-a0173643847
Abstract

Since its election in 1996 the Howard Government has invested billions of dollars in Australian families with children. Much of this money has been delivered through policies the Government claims will 'support families in the choices they wish to make' about how they combine paid work and family life (Howard 2005). This paper evaluates three areas of Commonwealth...]]>Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/What+does+family-friendly+really+mean%3f+Wellbeing%2c+time%2c+and+the...-a0173643846
Abstract

We present a brief index of parent job quality, classifying jobs by four working conditions: paid parental leave, perceived security, control and flexible work times. Jobs vary from optimal (with all conditions) to poor (none or one condition), and we describe differences in mothers 'and fathers job quality by education; work hours; and casual, fixed-term or permanent...]]>Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marginalising+women+in+the+labour+market%3a+'wage+scarring'+effects+of...-a0173643845
Abstract

Australian women are encouraged to use part-time work to alleviate work and family imbalance. Accordingly, part-time work enabling women to maintain attachment to their career, to acquire human capital, and to add to their salaries is integral to a family-friendly society. UK research finds that rather than advance careers, part-time work experience is...]]>Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Paid+maternity+leave+in+'best+practice'+organisations%3a+introduction%2c...-a0173643844
Abstract

To date, Australia has no national paid maternity leave scheme, and access to such leave remains limited. In the private and community sectors in particular, workplace provision of paid maternity leave relies on individual enterprise initiatives. However, we still know relatively little about why anal on what basis individual enterprises introduce paid...]]>