This discussion paper was prepared by Per Capita Research Fellow Tim Lyons to provide a framework for the 2017 Per Capita Progressive Economics Roundtable on work. It is intended to spark debate and discussion. As such it is deliberately and unashamedly polemical. The paper sets out what Tim sees as major themes in Australian work and then identifies some core problems that must be addressed.
His answer to the question posed by my title is a firm no.
Work, as it is structured by employers and experienced by workers, is failing many Australians, and their numbers steadily increase. There is an urgent need for a new approach, a need that can be seen in both the statistics and the lived experience of millions of Australians.
