Reworking work: what are the issues for Australia?

Australia has experienced two decades of dynamic economic reform that has included deregulation, privatisation, labour market and tax reforms. These policies have resulted in various societal inequalities with almost half of the workforce now employed in jobs that are casual, part-time and/or on fixed contracts. Consequently, the contemporary workforce is divided into two groups: those in high skilled, stressful jobs who would like to work less hours, and those who have to support themselves and their families with insecure incomes. The rewards from economic growth are also very unevenly distributed. As a result, there is a need to rethink and re-conceptualise work in Australia, which has been given a narrow meaning, largely connected to market activity for the purposes of welfare policy design. Outside of the market there is much work that is neither recognised nor rewarded. Hence, this paper discusses factors relating to the reworking of work in Australia making a number of suggestions as to how this could be approached.