Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Australia (Ratification: 1969)

Previous direct request and previous observation

The Committee notes the observations of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) received on 30 August 2021. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this regard.

Education and training policies. The Committee notes the comprehensive information provided by the Government on policies and targeted programs implemented on the federal and territory-levels and the cooperation between state and territory training authorities, including on the key reforms of Australian Apprenticeships and on the Foundation Skills for Your Future program. For the latter, AUD50 million are allocated for the five-year period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2024 to assist employed or recently unemployed Australians in developing language, literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skills through projects linked with employers. The Government states that as at December 2020, there were 297,920 apprentices or trainees in training, of whom 64.5 per cent were under the age of 25. In 2019, 87.7 per cent of graduates participating in an apprentice- or traineeship found employed after concluding these trainings. The Committee also notes the establishment, in 2020, of the National Skills Commissioner to provide expertise and national leadership on Australia’s labour market and current, emerging and future workforce skills needs, the skills reform underway since that year and the federal investment of AUD29.6 million to support the skills-led economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, complemented by a Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy amounting to AUD2.8 billion to ensure apprentices and trainees remained employed and able to complete their training and apprenticeships during the pandemic and enabled 90,000 small and medium-sized businesses to retain 180,000 apprentices and trainees. Finally, the Committee notes the Rapid Response Skills Initiative (RRSI) in Tasmania through which up to AUD3,000 are funnelled towards the cost of training for persons having lost casual, full-time or part-time work in the last 12 months due to retrenchment, downsizing or business closure and includes self-employed people. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken on the federal and territory levels in regard to education and training policies for all age groups, including apprenticeships, and on results achieved. The Committee would further appreciate receiving information as regards any measures aimed at coordinating education, training and retraining services, including higher education, apprenticeship, vocational training and entrepreneurship training, so as to enable those whose education and training have been interrupted to access education and training. The Committee observes that access to education and training, as well as to job counselling and placement services, are particularly crucial for young women and men who are already disadvantaged in the labour markets of most countries. In this context, youth employment policies and active labour market measures should be developed that, among other things, seek to ensure access to education, vocational training and skills development and to facilitate the transition from education and training to work. The Committee wishes to draw attention to the fact that, in a post pandemic context, there is an even stronger need for States, pursuant to Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation, 2017 (No. 205), to assess and meet emerging skills needs, and to formulate or adapt a national education, training, retraining and vocational guidance programme that assesses and responds to emerging skills needs for recovery, in consultation with education and training institutions and social partners.

Persons with disabilities. The Committee notes that based in July 2022, persons with disabilities had a lower labour force participation rate than people without, with 53 per cent (or 1.1 million) of working-age persons with disability being in the labour force, compared to 84 per cent (or 11.8 million) without. This rate is significantly lower for persons with severe or profound disabilities: 27 per cent (or 137,000). In reply to the Committee’s previous comment, the Government explains the adjustments to the improve the labour force participation rates of individuals with disability, the Government introduced a range of changes to the Disability Employment Services (DES) since 1 July 2018, which is available to people with disability as of 14 and is geared to securing long-term employment in the open labour market. The changes to the DES resulted in increased participant choice and control, a more competitive marketplace for DES providers, improved incentives for employment outcomes, and indexation of provider payments. The Committee also notes Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031, which builds on holistic Government actions, and rests on a whole-of-community response, inclusive of business, the non-government and services sectors and individuals. The Committee notes the Government’s updated information on the actors on the federal and territory levels and on targeted programs, such as the Employment Assistance Fund and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is aimed at enabling improved social and economic participation of people with disability and from which 450,000 persons had benefitted on 31 March 2022. Furthermore, and aimed at reducing long-term unemployment, the New Employment Services Model and the Transition to Work programme under Jobactive include special measures for – young – persons with disabilities, including wage subsidies for employers hiring persons with disabilities, who participate in TtW. As at 30 June 2021, there were 4,018 youth with disability in TtW, 10.8 per cent of the case, and 3,754 job placements could be implemented for participants with an identified disability (4.9 per cent of all placements under the programme). Observing that employment policies are one of the most appropriate means to include adequate measures to integrate persons with disabilities in the labour market, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken at policy and technical levels in this respect as well as to inform with regard to their impact and generally on results achieved as part of their implementation and on the sustainable integration of persons with disabilities into the open labour market.

Older workers. The Committee notes that in February 2020, the labour force participation rate for persons aged 55 years and over was 36.7 per cent with a participation rate of 14.4 per cent for persons aged 65 and over. Of these older workers, 3 in 5 (61 per cent) were men and 2 in 5 were women (39 per cent). The Government indicates 30 June 2021, 274,887 persons with 50 years of age formed part of Jobactive (28.4 per cent of all cases) and that between July 2015 and June 2021, 342,846 job placements (equating to 16.9 per cent of all placements) took place. The Committee notes the Government’s information on the continuation of existing programmes, such as the Restart Wage Subsidy, which provides wage subsidies of up to AUD10,000 for jobseekers 50 years of age or older after six months on income support, and the Career Transition Assistance program (CTA), of whose 10,258 participants, 2,286 received job placements as at 30 June 2021. The Committee notes that as part of the More Choices for a Longer Life Package, mature age-focused Entrepreneurship Facilitators assisted 17,785 older workers to start small businesses. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the programmes and other measures to encourage and support employment levels of older workers.