Publications
Work and Mental Health – Implications of COVID-19
There is significant concern about rising mental distress as a result of the pandemic and its economic consequences; with rates of anxiety, loneliness and stress increasing. Increased stress and anxiety may have been driven primarily by isolation and health concerns... Read article
Migration flows in commodity cycles: Assessing the role of migration policies
This paper sheds light on the role of immigration policies in shaping immigration flows in responses to labor market changes. Using data from Australia during the 2001 to 2015 commodity cycle as a quasi-experiment, we find that employer-sponsored (demand-driven) immigration... Read article
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – April 2020
The unemployment shock The latest labour market figures look dire to say the least. Massive employment losses and thousands of people working fewer hours than they would like to. Headline figures show employment losses of 600,000 people, which takes Australia’s... Read article
Working from Home in the COVID-19 Lockdown
Working from Home in the COVID-19 Lockdown Working from home is suddenly the new normal as many organisations and workers try to keep operating under the social distancing restrictions needed to stamp out the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Working... Read article
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – March 2020
The BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update provides expert insights and analysis around the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) labour force data release, focusing on employment patterns across state and territories. Key findings from March 2020 data include: Not much... Read article
BCEC Newsletter Summer 2019 Edition
Welcome to the Summer 2019 edition of the BCEC tri-annual newsletter. The end of 2019 was a busy and productive period for BCEC. We released our seventh report in our Focus on the States series ‘Finding a Place to Call... Read article
Short-term and long-term casual workers: how different are they?
Short-term casual workers – those casuals who have been employed in their current job for less than 12 months – constitute around 1 million workers and make-up 40% of Australia’s casual workforce. The JobKeeper wage subsidy package announced on the... Read article
Job Keepers and Job Seekers: How many workers will lose and how many will gain?
In response to the predicted job losses and business closures brought on by responses to COVID-19, the government has announced an unprecedented Job Keeper package at a cost of $130 billion. The package is expected to reach more than 6... Read article
Potential Job Losses in the COVID-19 Pandemic
The necessary government response to COVID-19 saw tens of thousands of Australians out of a job and lines stretching down the footpaths of Centrelink offices across the nation. Workers immediately impacted by new trading regulations are those employed primarily in... Read article
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – February 2020
The BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update provides expert insights and analysis around the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) labour force data release, focusing on employment patterns across state and territories. Key findings from February 2020 data include: BCEC Monthly Labour Market... Read article
Physical Isolation: Staying Connected During COVID-19
Most of our Social Interactions are already Digital – So will Physical Isolation Change Anything? Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that there are new rules around how we should interact with each other. There are strict limitations... Read article
Paradise Postponed: Future Tense and Religiosity
This paper identifies a new source of differences in religiosity: the presence of future tense marking in language. We argue that the rewards and punishments that incentivise religious behaviour are less effective for speakers of languages that contain future tense... Read article