Inclusive Best-Practice Employment Programs

Speakers

Mr Martin Hehir, Deputy Secretary, Employment, Department of Employment

Professor Jeff Borland, Truby Williams Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne

Mr Peter Davidson, Senior Adviser, Australian Council of Social Service

Professor Shelley Mallett, Professorial Fellow, Social Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne and General Manager Research and Policy, Brotherhood of St Laurence

Chair: Dr Steven Kennedy, Deputy Secretary, Innovation and Transformation, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

About the Topic

A persistent issue for the design of employment programs in Australia and globally has been meeting the needs of jobseekers with high levels of labour market disadvantage. In this Forum we will explore how employment programs can be made fit for purpose for these jobseekers, but also for discouraged jobseekers and disengaged groups who have left the labour force or are only marginally attached to the labour force.

Questions addressed included:

• Who are these disadvantaged jobseekers?
• What do they need?
• What is the best way to provide this?
• What is the role of the employers?