State of the Future of Work

Authors: Ruppanner, L., Churchill, B., Bissell, D., Ghin, P., Hydelund, C., Ainsworth, S., Blackhman, A., Borland. J., Cheong, M., Evans, M., Frermann, L., King, T. & Vetere, F.

Our inaugural State of the Future of Work report focuses on the on-going impact of COVID-19 on work futures. We ask a central question:  how are Australian workers faring into the COVID-19 recovery? Drawing on data on the work experiences of 1,400 Australian workers since the pandemic, we identify four critical future of work themes:

  1. Unsafe: Australians feel their work and workplaces are unsafe, sites of discrimination for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, caregivers and people living with chronic illnesses. 

  2. Unwell: Work, as it currently stands, is making many Australians unwell, with many working harder and reporting greater exhaustion than pre-pandemic, especially those in their prime working ages.

  3. Uncertain: Australian workers have a limited understanding of how the upcoming technological changes driven by automation and artificial intelligence will impact their jobs, creating greater uncertainty. Work, as it currently stands, is rapidly changing, with many Australians unclear on how to keep up.

  4. Opportunity: Despite these massive issues, Australian workers see greater opportunity to support workers to build happier, more satisfied work lives especially through the rise of flexible workplaces and flexible work practices.

    A copy of the report is available to download here.

Gender inequity intensified: Precarious work, gender and mental health during the pandemic

Lead researcher: Dr Tania King

Prior to COVID-19, women were over-represented in precarious employment arrangements, making them vulnerable to the health and economic effects of precarious employment. Importantly too, this has also made them vulnerable to job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging labor force data suggests that job losses due to the pandemic have been particularly experienced by the precariously employed, and it is known that more women than men have lost employment. Understanding the ways in which gender and employment precarity intersected in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health is essential in informing policy responses to the pandemic. This research uses Australian longitudinal data to examine: the association between employment precarity and job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic; the gendered patterning of this association; impacts of these associations on mental health.

Pathways in and out of the platform economy in the wake of COVID-19

Lead researcher: Dr Brendan Churchill

This project focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on Australian digital platform workers. Prior to COVID-19, digital platforms were touted as empowering workplaces where workers had full control over both their incomes and hours. Evidence suggests that the platform economy significantly expanded during the pandemic. It became an alternative way of earning a living, especially for those who lost their jobs or were ineligible for JobKeeper. In cities such as Melbourne where lockdowns were long and tough, some were pushed into platform work because of consumer demand, becoming ‘essential’ workers delivering food to homes. For these workers, this was profitable. However, now that most restrictions have been lifted, anecdotal evidence suggests that many platform workers are now leaving gig work in pursuit of jobs that offer more attractive pay and conditions, a trend no doubt exacerbated by the rapid opening up of the service economy and the large number of vacant positions currently available. In short, the advantages of platform work are now in serious doubt. Drawing on quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews, this project will examine the pathways in and out of the platform economy during and after COVID-19.

Developing the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem: Understanding the entrepreneurial latency of internal migrants

Lead researcher: Dr Peter Ghin

The pandemic has seen an acceleration in the intensity of metro-regional migration, with increasing numbers of people taking advantage of the opportunity to work remotely and bring forward their aspiration to live regionally. This has led to a significant demographic change in some regional communities, as greater numbers of younger, wealthier, and highly educated workers abandon metropolitan regions. Whilst internal migration has placed stressors on existing regional infrastructure and services (e.g. affordable housing and healthcare), it has also meant that there has been a significant influx of human capital to the regions. This research project seeks to more clearly identify how this human capital may be oriented to harness the latent entrepreneurialism amongst metro-regional movers to support the sustainable and equitable development of regional communities.

Future Tense: What is the future of work and how is it being framed?

Lead researcher: Dr Lea Frehmann

This research focusses on how the ‘future of work’ is defined and characterised in reports and media. Much of our understanding of the future of work is dictated by global consulting companies like KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and global instituions like the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. These supranational organisations are at the forefront of predicting and speculating what changes will occur in work and employment. Similarly, newsmedia like news articles in daily media (e.g. The Guardian, The New York Times) as well as other outlets like the Harvard Business Review and Business Review Weekly also contribute to these debates. Using AI, specifically natural language processing (NLP) techniques, the project will investigate how these institutions and organisations frame the ‘future of work’, the type of language used and how the future of work is positioned and charactertised across these organisations. The analysis will focus on segements on the labour force to see how particular groups are positioned (e.g., women, young people). This research will enable a better understanding of how global instituitons and organisations shape the discourse surrounding the future of work.