ANALYSIS: What word is more important to the jobs summit than 'jobs'? It starts with P and it's hard to pin down
was introduced in the early 1990s, when we were asked to find improved ways of doing things at work in return for pay rises, we did it. But it became harder to keep finding gains as big.
More broadly, the extraordinary success of the productivity gains we made in manufacturing and agriculture have made them less important as employers. Now most of us work in services. And services are hard to automate. Worse still, it's hard to tell what the output of many services is. There's a reason the debate about the government's commitment to defence is couched in terms ofWhat about hairdressing? A hairdresser who trims twice as many heads per day isn't necessarily twice as good, even if the quality of each trim remains the same. Part of a good hairdresser's service is the quality of attention they offer each customer.
It's the same for health care and education. That's one of the reasons the Australian Bureau of Statistics doesn't produce estimates of the productivity of the "health care and social assistance" or "education and training" industries, two of Australia's biggest industries. And many education and health services are provided free or subsidised, making the price charged an unhelpful measure of output.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Time to put Dutton ‘in a corner where he belongs’ and ‘get on’ with growing the economyFormer Labor senator Stephen Conroy says it’s time to put Opposition Leader Peter Dutton “in a corner where he belongs” and get on with growing Australia’s economy. He said the business community have been crying out for the last five years for a fix on climate and the enterprise bargaining system. “We got the ideologically driven 1980s style thinking of Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party,” Mr Conroy told Sky News Australia. “They could never do it; they could never get there. “Ordinary Australians want a chance to increase their real wages.”
Read more »
Kingscliff Beach Hotel near Byron Bay on the market for $100mFormer Rich Lister Peter Mattick is selling the Kingscliff Beach Hotel for $100m, while Rich Lister Tony Denny is selling two large pubs in Sydney for $80m.
Read more »
Dutton may never be PM but, so far, he’s hardly put a foot wrongHistory tells us that Peter Dutton is unlikely to ever become prime minister, but the former cop is strategic, not ideological; a pragmatist, not a zealot. And as Malcolm Turnbull realised too late, he is cold-bloodedly ruthless.
Read more »
Temporary work visas ‘abused’ for yearsLabor MP Peter Khalil says temporary work visas have been “abused” for years and have gone beyond filling short-term gaps. He said there’s still a place for TPVs to “fill gaps” in the short term. “It went beyond just filling short-term gaps to becoming sort of the go-to for every employer in every industry,” he told Sky News Australia. “It actually became a real problem for us over time.”
Read more »
What word is more important to the jobs summit than 'jobs'? It starts with P and it's hard to pin downHow do you measure the productivity of a hairdresser, or a teacher, or an aged care worker? It's harder than you might think, writes Peter Martin.
Read more »