Labor gets to work on jobs plan with employment white paper

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers will release their employment white paper on Monday which will suggest reforms to the migration system and skills and tertiary education sectors

Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Albanese government will release its employment white paper on Monday to help the ­nation deliver full employment and productivity growth while adjusting to big economic shifts over coming decades.

It will have initiatives and policy directions across a range of areas, including reforming the migration system and investing in the skills, tertiary education and lifelong-learning sectors.

The employment white paper is being promoted as a whole-of-government initiative led by Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers with input from senior cabinet ministers across portfolios ranging from finance, employment, education, social services and migration to industry. It will help inform policy work across government including the upcoming migration strategy, the national skills agreement being negotiated with the states and territories, and the universities accord.

Labor released the terms of reference for the white paper following last year’s jobs and skills summit, with the government saying it would look at the future of work, job security, labour supply and the expansion of skills and training opportunities across the nation.

The white paper will have five key objectives: delivery of sustained full employment; the ­promotion of sustainable wage growth; reigniting productivity growth; filling skills needs; and overcoming employment barriers.

The Treasurer said the white paper would outline the government’s vision for a more “dynamic and inclusive labour market” where more people had opportunities for “secure, fairly paid work”.

“Achieving this vision will require close co-operation and collaboration, building on the foundation of last year’s jobs and skills summit,” he said. “Today our unemployment rate is around historic lows and the participation rate is near record highs. This positions us well in the face of the immediate challenges of slowing economic growth and continuing global uncertainty.”

Dr Chalmers said more work was needed to “shape the future direction of our labour market and put the benefits of employment within reach of more of our people.”

In it submission to the white paper, the ACTU urged the government to make “true full employment an explicit macro­economic goal in the form of zero involuntary unemployment” rather than the non-­accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU).

The Treasurer has previously said it was important to separate the RBA’s concept of the NAIRU – a calculation reflecting the lowest unemployment can be without contributing to inflation – from the government’s objective to “create good, secure, well-paid jobs for everyone who wants one”.

He also said that the first priority of the white paper would be to try to establish “common ground about how this country understands full employment”.

Reserve Bank governor Mich­elle Bullock angered the unions by delivering a speech in June saying that employment was “above what we would consider to be consistent with our inflation target”, which is set at 2-3 per cent.

Both the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia have urged the government to pursue major structural reforms to the skills, education and training sector through the white paper process.

The white paper will contain a number of initiatives and reform directions across 10 key policy areas.