Essays & Reportage
16 August 2023
A string of scandals and cost-blowouts in social services look a lot like symptoms of a deeper problem
National Affairs
11 July 2023
We have a chance to keep joblessness at a historical low, argues a leading labour economist — and that also means measuring it differently
National Affairs
15 May 2023
The Albanese government has quietly abandoned full employment
National Affairs
10 May 2023
The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee might not have got what it asked for, but it has kickstarted an overdue debate
National Affairs
30 April 2021
Josh Frydenberg has moved further from Coalition orthodoxy on budget deficits
National Affairs
8 April 2021
Extract | Faced with a delicate balancing of debt reduction and jobs, the government is sending out mixed messages
National Affairs
8 March 2021
For many women, “Covid normal” isn’t working
National Affairs
12 October 2020
The assumption that Australia will experience a quick recovery has produced a budget that’s big on spending but low on stimulus
National Affairs
30 September 2020
Unlike the proposed tax cuts, there’s a guaranteed way to stimulate the economy
National Affairs
8 September 2020
There are better, tested ways of generating new jobs
National Affairs
18 June 2020
For less than the cost of the Coalition’s Stage 3 tax cuts, Australians can be paid adequately to look for work or participate in socially useful activities
National Affairs
27 March 2020
What are the best estimates of the pandemic’s impact on the Australian economy and the job market?
National Affairs
30 December 2019
There’s more than one good reason to lift the payment to jobseekers
Correspondents
2 September 2019
A closely watched election campaign unfolds in an East German state
National Affairs
10 July 2019
Whichever way you measure it, Australia’s unemployment benefit is far from being “one of the best safety nets, if not the best, of anywhere in the world”
National Affairs
5 July 2018
New figures confirm that inequality has risen in Australia in recent decades, mainly fuelled by gains among the highest earners
National Affairs
13 February 2018
The impact of America’s badly timed stimulus will ripple across the world
National Affairs
1 February 2018
A new strategy would start by recognising that the market alone can’t help many jobless Australians find work
National Affairs
18 November 2016
It’s hardly surprising that the International Monetary Fund has urged the federal government to spend more on infrastructure
National Affairs
26 November 2015
Senior federal government ministers say that welfare spending is growing too quickly. Peter Whiteford sifts the figures and comes to a different conclusion
National Affairs
5 August 2015
Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens seems to think we should expect lower long-term growth, writes Tim Colebatch. What do the figures say?
National Affairs
22 January 2015
Australia’s job market has failed badly since the global financial crisis, writes Tim Colebatch
National Affairs
9 April 2014
New Zealand has reacted to proposed changes to Australian social security law by raising discrimination concerns with Canberra, writes Peter Mares
Essays & Reportage
2 December 2011
The government has created a giant job-search industry caught between competition and over-regulation, writes Elisabeth Wynhausen
Books & Arts
24 November 2011
One of France’s best-known journalists went undercover to see the recession first-hand. Sophie Black reviews her account of the experience
Essays & Reportage
10 May 2011
Backed by Lindsay Tanner, two initiatives in Melbourne are taking on the obstacles that face qualified Africans applying for professional jobs, reports Ralph Johnstone
National Affairs
7 December 2010
Since 1996 Newstart for a single person has fallen from around 54 per cent to 45 per cent of the after-tax minimum wage, writes Peter Whiteford. It isn’t enough to live on
National Affairs
23 July 2010
The reasons for the Howard government’s electoral success are widely misunderstood