The Australian Workforce
In recent the Australian workplace has drastically changed in the last decade due to changing business practices, economic conditions and government policy. The Australian workforce can be defined as anyone over the age of 15 who is currently employed or actively seeking work. The most noticeable change is the movement away from full time due to a whole number of factors.
Firstly, the most important aspect of the workforce is the size and overall quality. There are three factors influencing this: Population size, Age distribution and education patterns. Population size is influenced by natural increases and net migration. Natural increases are the excess number of births over deaths, Australia has a declining rate of natural increases. Australia’s …show more content…
Overall there is an ageing population in Australia, the median age has risen from about 31 to 37 in the past two decades. This is a result of declining birth rates and increasing life expectancy this is mainly due to the advances in medication and higher standards of living. As the “baby boomers” post WWII are moving into retirement Australia could experience a very significant shortage of labour in the …show more content…
There are a few reasons to explain this recent shift, firstly working part time means who are able to balance other responsibilities such as studying or taking care of family. This has explained the increasing trend of women working part time, currently 38% of the part time employees are women. Another reason to explain the increase in part time work is the more flexible working conditions, for example working from home, school holidays off and working hours that suit school hours. Finally sometimes part time employment is the choice of the employer, as firms tend to operate with excess capacity meaning firms employ below maximum employment so that there is greater flexibility in staffing arrangements. For example if aggregate demand rises and firms need to produce a higher level of output instead of increasing demand for labour they will use there resources (labour) more intensively so that they will not have to employ new employees and on-costs of labour (sick leave, superannuation
Firstly, the most important aspect of the workforce is the size and overall quality. There are three factors influencing this: Population size, Age distribution and education patterns. Population size is influenced by natural increases and net migration. Natural increases are the excess number of births over deaths, Australia has a declining rate of natural increases. Australia’s …show more content…
Overall there is an ageing population in Australia, the median age has risen from about 31 to 37 in the past two decades. This is a result of declining birth rates and increasing life expectancy this is mainly due to the advances in medication and higher standards of living. As the “baby boomers” post WWII are moving into retirement Australia could experience a very significant shortage of labour in the …show more content…
There are a few reasons to explain this recent shift, firstly working part time means who are able to balance other responsibilities such as studying or taking care of family. This has explained the increasing trend of women working part time, currently 38% of the part time employees are women. Another reason to explain the increase in part time work is the more flexible working conditions, for example working from home, school holidays off and working hours that suit school hours. Finally sometimes part time employment is the choice of the employer, as firms tend to operate with excess capacity meaning firms employ below maximum employment so that there is greater flexibility in staffing arrangements. For example if aggregate demand rises and firms need to produce a higher level of output instead of increasing demand for labour they will use there resources (labour) more intensively so that they will not have to employ new employees and on-costs of labour (sick leave, superannuation