Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia
Workforce exclusion is a complex and enduring problem in Australia, with some groups of job seekers more likely to be disadvantaged in the labour market than others. We identify a dominant ‘work first’ unemployment intervention narrative that ignores the nature of disadvantage and its relationship t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Griffith University
2015-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social Inclusion |
| Online Access: | https://josi.journals.griffith.edu.au/index.php/inclusion/article/view/640 |
| _version_ | 1811233450417455104 |
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| author | Ian Goodwin-Smith Claire Hutchinson |
| author_facet | Ian Goodwin-Smith Claire Hutchinson |
| author_sort | Ian Goodwin-Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Workforce exclusion is a complex and enduring problem in Australia, with some groups of job seekers more likely to be disadvantaged in the labour market than others. We identify a dominant ‘work first’ unemployment intervention narrative that ignores the nature of disadvantage and its relationship to workforce exclusion. This narrative reduces unemployment to a simple matter of labour market supply and demand, and privileges immediate economic productivity and exit from welfare payments over sustainable attachment to quality jobs. We examine fourteen programs for disadvantaged job seekers under one national provider network. Data was gathered from eleven semi-structured telephone interviews and eight evaluation reports and analysed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo. Our findings challenge the dominant narrative and stress the importance of a partnership- orientated and capacity building focus on the unemployed person, and the significance of quality employment with long term support. We identify the importance of acknowledging job seekers’ strengths, aspirations and preferences, and of job seekers having agency to determine their own pathways with support from service providers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:20:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d64276a4d68641f988b1f484ae13943b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1836-8808 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:20:26Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Griffith University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social Inclusion |
| spelling | doaj.art-d64276a4d68641f988b1f484ae13943b2022-12-22T03:35:24ZengGriffith UniversityJournal of Social Inclusion1836-88082015-09-0161163185528Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in AustraliaIan Goodwin-Smith0Claire Hutchinson1Flinders UniversityFlinders UniversityWorkforce exclusion is a complex and enduring problem in Australia, with some groups of job seekers more likely to be disadvantaged in the labour market than others. We identify a dominant ‘work first’ unemployment intervention narrative that ignores the nature of disadvantage and its relationship to workforce exclusion. This narrative reduces unemployment to a simple matter of labour market supply and demand, and privileges immediate economic productivity and exit from welfare payments over sustainable attachment to quality jobs. We examine fourteen programs for disadvantaged job seekers under one national provider network. Data was gathered from eleven semi-structured telephone interviews and eight evaluation reports and analysed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo. Our findings challenge the dominant narrative and stress the importance of a partnership- orientated and capacity building focus on the unemployed person, and the significance of quality employment with long term support. We identify the importance of acknowledging job seekers’ strengths, aspirations and preferences, and of job seekers having agency to determine their own pathways with support from service providers.https://josi.journals.griffith.edu.au/index.php/inclusion/article/view/640 |
| spellingShingle | Ian Goodwin-Smith Claire Hutchinson Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia Journal of Social Inclusion |
| title | Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia |
| title_full | Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia |
| title_fullStr | Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia |
| title_short | Beyond supply and demand: addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in Australia |
| title_sort | beyond supply and demand addressing the complexities of workforce exclusion in australia |
| url | https://josi.journals.griffith.edu.au/index.php/inclusion/article/view/640 |
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