Australian Bulletin of Labour articles

Recent articles from Australian Bulletin of Labour

Demographic impacts on the future supply of vocational skills.(Contributed Article)(Report)
March 1, 2009... I. Introduction The ageing of the Australian population has become an issue of substantial national significance, with the Federal Treasurer's Intergenerational Report (Costello, 2002, 2004) drawing attention to the closing gap in the ratio of working age to retiree populations. One...

Skill acquisition and use across the life course: current trends, future prospects.(Contributed Article)(Report)
March 1, 2009... Introduction People experience a series of major transitions during the course of their lives. These usually include the move from school directly to paid work or to postsecondary education, leaving the parental home, partnering and/or marriage, becoming a parent, farewelling dependent...

What is a skill shortage?(Report)
March 1, 2009... 1. Introduction (1) A shortage of skills is a source of aggravation to firms, and when acute is likely to hamper the quality and quantity of their output. In a market economy, firms are accustomed to being limited by their capacity to find buyers for their products, not by their capacity...

A well-skilled future.
June 1, 2008... What is a Well-Skilled Future? Skills are expensive to deliver and expensive to acquire. Not only do they require the time and money of students; they also demand effort, persistence, a willingness to be taught and exposure to unfamiliar tasks and ideas. Because acquiring skills is...

Forecasting future demands: what we can and cannot know.
June 1, 2008... 1. Introduction The vocational education and training (VET) sector seeks to teach courses that will meet the future demands from employers in terms of the quantity and type of skills required. If changes in the quantity and type of vocational skills that are needed by employers can be...