The Labour Force Outlook in the Minerals Resource Sector: 2005 to 2015

Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA) / Minerals Council of Australia

Dr Diannah Lowry, Mr Simon Molloy, Dr Yan Tan

This project was commissioned by the Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA) for the Minerals Council of Australia as part of their National Skills Shortage Strategy (NSSS). The study involved the projection of future skill requirements in the resources sector at a national level within a set of nine defined commodity groups.

To access this report, click here and choose 'Report: Staffing the Supercycle'

MCA Media Release

An Updated Profile of the Minimum Wage Workforce in Australia

Fair Pay Commission

Josh Healy, Sue Richardson

In preparation for its first minimum wage ruling, delivered on 26 October 2006, the Australian Fair Pay Commission funded a small number of research projects. NILS was among the groups involved in this funding round. Our project report (download here) estimated the number of employees paid the standard adult Federal Minimum Wage, using data from the HILDA survey and the ABS. It also explored the personal and household characteristics of minimum wage recipients.

The main findings are:

Ten per cent of adult employees have hourly wages up to and including the FMW. Depending on how a ‘low-wage’ worker is defined, as many as 1.4 million individuals may be affected by AFPC decisions.
Compared to other employees, minimum wage workers are more likely to be young, without post-school qualifications, and working part-time casual jobs in the retail and hospitality industries. They are more likely to be unmarried, but are not more likely to be migrants from non-English speaking countries.
Compared to other employees, minimum wage workers are less satisfied with their pay and their finances, but not with their lives generally. When asked if their pay is fair, they are also more likely than others to say that it is not.
Minimum wage workers are disproportionately found in the lower deciles of a distribution of household incomes among adult employees. However, they are spread across the distribution of incomes for the whole Australian population.

To download the full AFPC decision and other research reports that informed it, visit: www.fairpay.gov.au

Click here to download this report

A well-skilled future: Tailoring VET to the emerging labour market

National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)

This 2.5 year program will provide a set of insightful and soundly-based evaluations of the expected evolution of the labour market for vocational skills, of how the VET system can best remain alert to the emerging changes and respond rapidly to them, and of the current fitness of the VET system to meet the requirements of the future. We will do this by drawing on our considerable current understanding of both the labour market and VET, and by conducting a series of integrated studies to produce new understandings. At the conclusion of the research program, the outcomes will be:

an understanding of what we can and cannot know about the shape of future labour demand;
- Forecasts of those aspects of labour demand that can be projected with reasonable confidence;
an evaluation of the concept of skills shortage and when the public sector skills system should respond;
a strategy for identifying and responding to relevant emerging skills shortages or over-supplies
a clear picture of the demographic features of the future workforce (including immigration);
a lifecycle perspetive on future labour supply and skills development and refreshment;
a critical review of the extent to which the nature of work organisation is changing, and its consequences for skills and skills development;
identification of the particular skills development needs of selected demographic groups in the future and how VET may best respond;
an analysis of the current VET strategies and how well adapted they are for the emerging labour market and needs of people as workers and the communties in which they live;
articulation of cutting edge innovations in skill development in Australia and overseas, as the basis for developing improved responses to the future labour market;
a final clear document on how VET can best respond to the developments identified in the overall research program;
a book-length monograph that brings the results of the research program into a integrated whole.

Prof Sue Richardson

Report 1: 'What is a skill shortage?' by Sue Richardson can be accessed from http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1732.html

Report 2: 'Skill acquisition and use across the life course: Current trends, future prospects' by Bill Martin can be accessed from http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1747.html

Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories (2006)

Dept of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA)

Sue Richardson, Laurence Lester

NILS were commissioned by DIMA to contribute to the evaluation ofthe General Skilled Migration Categories. Report can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/gsm-report/index.htm

BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Expansion Project – Projection of Future Skill Requirements (2006)

Diannah Lowry

The BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Expansion Project (ODEX), as part of its Pre-feasibility Phase, commissioned NILS to provide a detailed skills requirement analysis for the construction, pre-commissioning and commissioning stages of the ODEX Project (during 2009 to 2013), a gap analysis comparing the skills requirement with projected skills availability in the national and local Australian labour markets, and practical recommendations for addressing any identified skills gaps.

An Updated Profile of the Minimum Wage Workforce in Australia (2006)

Fair Pay Commission

Josh Healy, Sue Richardson

The main findings are:

Ten per cent of adult employees have hourly wages up to and including the FMW. Depending on how a ‘low-wage’ worker is defined, as many as 1.4 million individuals may be affected by AFPC decisions.
Compared to other employees, minimum wage workers are more likely to be young, without post-school qualifications, and working part-time casual jobs in the retail and hospitality industries. They are more likely to be unmarried, but are not more likely to be migrants from non-English speaking countries.
Compared to other employees, minimum wage workers are less satisfied with their pay and their finances, but not with their lives generally. When asked if their pay is fair, they are also more likely than others to say that it is not.
Minimum wage workers are disproportionately found in the lower deciles of a distribution of household incomes among adult employees. However, they are spread across the distribution of incomes for the whole Australian population.

To download the full AFPC decision and other research reports that informed it, visit: www.fairpay.gov.au

Click here to download this report

Analyisis of Conditional Adjustment Payment (CAP) Training Data (2006)

Commonwealth Dept of Health & Ageing

Bill Martin, Megan Moskos, Margareta Rebelos

As a condition of payments from the Commonwealth government known as “Conditional Adjustment Payments” (CAP), all aged care facilities were required to provide the Dept of Health and Ageing with details of their staff training in the last 6 months of 2004. The Department did not give facilities any clear guidelines about exactly what information it wanted, how detailed etc. The Department has contracted NILS to assess the quality and usefulness of this data. The project involves coding the data from a sample of the CAP returns from facilities and conducting a survey of a random sample of coded sample to verify their responses. The data from these sources is then to be analysed to provide an assessment of the quality of the information provided by facilities in their CAP returns, and to provide the best picture possible of staff training practices in facilities. During 2005, the main activity on this project was to work on the CAP return information provided by the Department so that it could be put in a form that would allow coding. The bulk of the work on the project will be done in 2006, when the returns from the sample of aged care facilities will be coded, and the verification survey undertaken.

Reasons why Persons with VET Qualifications are Employed in Lower Skilled Occupations and Industries (2006)

Sue Richardson, Yan Tan, Anna Lane, Jo Flavel

NILS undertook an assessment of the reasons why some people with vocational and educational training (VET) qualifications and skills are not working in occupations commensurate with those skills. This study was motivated by a review by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) that identified job-skill mismatch as a key issue in NSW. Specifically, the Tribunal is concerned with evidence that shows a significant proportion of VET qualified persons are either working in occupations at lower skills levels or have withdrawn from the labour force. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) commissioned this research.

Click here to download a draft copy of this report.

The Impact of Gambling Initiatives

Independent Gambling Authority

Christine Stevens, Bill Martin, Megan Moskos, Laurence Lester, Joanne Flavel, John Horrocks

Commissioned by the Independent Gambling Authority, this project examines the impact of the following initiatives on gamblers and gambling activity:

• The Advertising and Responsible Gambling Codes of Practice which apply to gambling operations in hotels and clubs, the Sky City Casino, SA TAB, licensed racing clubs and SA Lotteries;

• The Problem Gambler Family Protection Order Scheme which enables ‘third parties’ such as family members to obtain orders barring individuals with gambling problems from entering gambling venues;

• The reduction in the numbers of gaming machines in hotels.

The longitudinal study involves the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from a range of different sources at four time points during 2004-05. The wide-ranging study is complicated by the timing of the commencement of the different initiatives, with the Advertising and Responsible Gambling Codes of Practice coming into operation from the 30 April 2004, the Problem Gambler Family Protection Order Scheme from 1 July 2004, and the reduction in the numbers of gaming machines from 1 July 2005.
Structured telephone interviews have been conducted with randomly selected recreational and problem gamblers, to examine the social and economic impact of the codes of practice, and in particular to review changes in rates of participation in gambling, and the amount time and money people spent on the different forms of gambling, and levels of enjoyment of gambling activities. It was planned that problem gamblers and their families involved in early stages of the Problem Gambler Family Protection Order Scheme would be interviewed to review the social and economic impact of the intervention, but there was little public involvement in the scheme during the first nine months of its operation. As a result this component of the research was dropped.

A mixture of face-to-face and telephone interviews have been used with a randomly sample of licensees and managers of hotels to examine their experience of the Advertising and Responsible Gambling Codes of Practice as well as the reduction in the number of gaming machines. A small number of staff employed in gaming rooms has also been interviewed. Issues covered include the operation and implementation of the codes, the effectiveness of the provisions, the impact of the codes on gamblers and gambling activity, the issues experienced in implementing the codes, and changes in the ability of staff to recognise and respond to problem gamblers.
Interviews were also conducted with representatives from other gambling industry providers, such as the SATAB, SA Lotteries, Sky City Casino and peak bodies such as Clubs SA, Australian Hotels Association, and the horse, harness and dog racing associations to discuss their experience of the implementation of the codes and the impact on their business. In addition a sample of staff employed in the Casino have been interviewed to review the impact of the code of practice on their work and interaction with patrons.
As the regulatory body, interviews have been conducted with a number of staff at different levels within the Office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner, ranging from the Commissioner to the inspectors, to examine the progress made by the gambling industry in implementing the codes. Quantitative data on changes in gaming machine turnover is also collected from this source.

Interviews were conducted with providers of gambling support services, and quantitative data obtained from Gambling Helpline and Break Even services to review changes in the number of enquiries or clients over time, the type presenting problems, and changes in their capacity to provide support to problem gamblers, as well as changes in relationships with the gambling industry.

Data collection for this research project occurred at 4 time points, and was completed in August/September 2005.

The data will be fully analysed and a final report made to the commissioning body in May 2006.

Work-related Issues associated with Regional Mobility

Dept of Premier & Cabinet SA

Diannah Lowry

Report titled ‘Why People Move’, for the Population Advisory Group, Cabinet Office, Department of Premier & Cabinet, South Australia, June, 2005. The report was a comprehensive literature review of work-related factors which influence peoples’ decision to re-locate to other regions.

Flinders Social Monitoring & Policy Futures Network

Area of Strategic Research (ASRI)

Bill Martin

Late in 2004, Bill Martin became the inaugural Leader of the Flinders Social Monitoring and Policy Futures Network (FSMPFN). This new research group was funded for 3 years as an “Area of Strategic Research Investment” through a round of competitive funding in 2004. The group has about 35 members, including all NILS academic staff. It consists of social science researchers with interests that involve monitoring important aspects of contemporary social life, with some researchers taking special interest in relevant policy processes. During 2005, the group held several successful events designed to develop its internal identity. These included a half day workshops on Research Impact in the Social Sciences, at which Sue Richardson wore her Academy of Social Sciences hat to talk about Research Impact in the proposed Research Quality Framework, and Linda Butler, from the Australian National University, talked about metrics for measuring the impact of research. Another workshop examined the potential for the new Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) to be used to develop Flinders’ ‘social monitoring’ capacity. FSMPFN has commissioned a substantial oversample of South Australians in the 2005 AuSSA survey, and this will be used as the basis for FSMPFN research in 2006. FSMPFN has also developed a number of other research initiatives in 2005, including pursuing a role in future monitoring of South Australia’s Strategic Plan. Bill Martin will continue as Leader of FSMPFN in 2006.

Residential Aged Care Facilities and their Workers: How Staffing Patterns and Work Experience Vary with Facility Characteristics

Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Bill Martin

This report describes how staffing patterns and the work experience of staff vary in aged care facilities of different types. The report concludes that there are significant variations in staffing patterns across facilities according to their balance of high and low care beds, their geographic location and whether they are privately owned, owned by non-profits or government owned. However, the work experience of staff in facilities varies very little with these facility characteristics.

Click here to download this report

What’s Best, What’s Worst? Direct Carers’ Work in their Own Words

Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Megan Mokos and Bill Martin

A key data source for the Residential Aged Care Workforce project was a survey of a sample of direct care workers employed in aged care facilities. This report analyses the information from that survey provided by respondents in their own words about what they liked most and least about their jobs. It describes the range of likes and dislikes respondents expressed. They greatly enjoyed actually providing care to residents, with many also being positive about those they worked with. The dominant dislike was the low pay they believed they received, with concern about the amount of paper work and insufficient staff also being expressed.

Click here to download this report

How do Aged Care Workers Compare with Other Australian Workers

Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Josh Healy and Megan Moskos

This report compares workers in aged care facilities with the wider Australian workforce. Much of the comparison is with the female workforce since almost all direct care workers in aged care are women. The comparison is conducted with a range of worker characteristics including age, education, earnings, employment contract, and workplace experiences.

Click here to download this report

Determinants of Labour Supply Amongst Aged Care Workers: A Multivariate Analysis

Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Bill Martin

This report analyses what factors affect various aspects of labour supply and factors affecting labour supply amongst aged care workers. It considers the impact of employment arrangements and preferences; experience of work; personal characteristics; and facility characteristics. The results provide a number of insights that are useful in thinking about the future of this workforce.

Click here to download this report

People and Skills Requirements

Minerals Institute of Western Australia

Diannah Lowry, Laurence Lester

This project sought to project people and skill requirements in 2015 in the Western Australian resources sector, based on output forecasts by The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy. The findings of the study have been published in a report titled People and Skills Requirements in 2015, published by the Minerals Institute of Western Australia in September, 2005

Prospecting for Skills Project

Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA)

Diannah Lowry

This project involved working in partnership with NCVER, for the Chamber of Minerals and Energy (WA). The study investigated the skill needs in the minerals sector, including current skill levels, the extent of any skill gaps/shortages and potential remedies, with a particular focus on technicians, skilled tradespersons, and semi-skilled operatives. In the course of the project visits, Diannah visited gold mines in the Kalgoorlie/Boulder region to interview workers and management. The site visits provided direct insights into issues related to skills and training in the sector. This project resulted in a report titled Prospecting for Skills: The Current and Future Skill Needs in the Minerals Sector, published by DEST in May, 2005.

The Labour Force Outlook in the Minerals Resource Sector: 2005 to 2015

Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA) / Minerals Council of Australia

Dr Diannah Lowry, Mr Simon Molloy, Dr Yan Tan

Click here to download this report

Selection of Skilled Immigrants

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

Sue Richardson took part in a 3 person review for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, of the selection of skilled migrants to Australia. This review was requested by Cabinet, to advise on ways of improving current policies and processes. The other reviewers were Dr Bob Birrell (Monash) and Dr Leslyanne Hawthorne (Melbourne). The review was completed in March 2006.

Click here to download this report

Building a Better Future for Our Children

2003-4 ARC Learned Academies Program (Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia)

This project brings together scholars from a range of the social sciences, including psychology, philosophy, history, politics and economics. It will identify the key requirements for a good and healthy childhood and what obligations society (in addition to parents) has to provide these for children. It will go on to establish the extent to which these key requirements have been enhanced or diminished by recent economic and social changes in Australia. It will conclude with a serious engagement with senior policy makers to share what has been learned from the project.

Professor Sue Richardson, with Professor Margot Prior, University of Melbourne

Evaluation of Employee Attitudes to Health, Safety and the Environment

Coogee Resources

Dr Diannah Lowry was commissioned by Coogee Resources to design and manage a survey which identified the attitudes of employees and contractors towards health, safety and the environment within Coogee Resources. Dr Lowry compared the results from a previous survey and with the Australian benchmark, analysed the differences in perceptions of EHS practice between workers, and produced a management presentation which will be used to provide feedback to the workers.

Workers for the WA minerals sector

In April 2005 Di Lowry and Laurence Lester completed a project for the Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA). They used projections of output from another group to explore the people and skills requirements of the minerals sector workforce leading up to 2015.

Specifically, the NILS project involved providing answers to the following key questions: 1) how many people will be needed in 2015 in the WA resources sector?; 2) what type of competency base (eg. Professional, trade, skilled etc) will be required in 2015?, and 3) what skills will be needed in 2015 in the WA resources sector? In addition to these questions, the scope of the review also involved making projections associated with the educational background and demographics of the future resources sector workforce, as well as issues related to Indigenous employment in the sector in 2015. This project was awarded on the basis of a previous project co-jointly conducted with NCVER for the Chamber of Minerals & Energy (WA).

Sydney Workforce projections

NILS was asked by the NSW Department of Planning to provide projection up to 2031 of the size of the workforce (by sex and full-part time) in the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Area. Yan Tan and Laurence Lester provided a comprehensive set of projections to NSWDT. We also provided a paper in which we discussed major developments in employment and the context for the projections.

The Changing Labour Force Experience of New Migrants (2004)

The Changing Settlement Experience of New Migrants (2004)

Wage Determination in the 20th century Australian Economy (Keith Hancock, Presentation, Convention of the Industrial Relations Society of Australia, The Centenary Convention, 21-22 Oct, 2004. - ppt)

Skills Acquisition in SA (2004)

Managers after the era of organizational restructuring: Towards a Second Managerial Revolution? (Bill Martin, Conference Paper: delivered at the American Sociological Association meetings and Work, Employment and Society in the UK - pdf)

The Care of Older Australians, A Picture of the Residential Aged Care Workforce

Labour Force Participation as a Determinant of Aboriginal Health (2004)

Lessons from the Australian Longitudinal Survey on Migrants (2004)

Australian and Canadian Immigration Strategies and Labour Market Outcomes Compared (2004)

BHP Billiton Petroleum Limited Staff Climate Survey (2004)

Reports for the Essential Services Commission (2004, 2002)

Community Services Survey

Santos 2003 Environment, Health and Safety Report

Labour Market Module

High Performance Work Practices; Investing in Skill

The Labour Force Experience of New Migrants (2003)

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Recent Research Projects

Western Australia Dept of Consumer & Employment Protection

An Economic Evaluation of Women's Labour Supply in WA

Laurence Lester, Darcy Fitzpatrick

Click here to download this report

Chifley Research Centre

Industrial Relations and Productivity in Australia

Keith Hancock, Tracy Bai, Joanne Flavel, Anna Lane

Australian Fair Pay Commission

NILS was commissioned by the Fair Pay Commission Secretariat to advise on the design of an appropriate strategy for monitoring the outcomes of minimum wage and pay scale review decisions of the Australian Fair Pay Commission.

Click here to download this report.

Abu Dhabi Labour Market

Sue Richardson, Anna Lane

In collaboration with researchers from the Economic and Policy Research Unit at Zayed University in the UAE, NILS conducted a study of the Abu Dhabi labour market, including an assessment of the employment opportunities and constraints facing young Emirati nationals. The project paid particular attention to the relationship between the education system and the labour market in an attempt to determine the return on the investment in education. Commissioned by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, UAE.

Evaluation of Employee Attitudes to Health, Safety and the Environment

BHP Billiton, Liverpool Bay Asset

NILS was commissioned by BHP Billiton to identify the attitudes of employees and contractors towards health, safety and the environment and cultural issues in the Liverpool Bay Asset. NILS will design and manage a survey, compare the results with previous surveys conducted in 2002 and 2004 and with the Australian benchmark. The project was completed in March 2006.