Publications

Work and Mental Health – Implications of COVID-19 Rebecca Cassells, Michael Dockery, Alan Duncan, Daniel Kiely, Astghik Mavisakalyan 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 25 May 2020COVID-19 Insights  |  Health and Wellbeing  |  Social Issues  |  Workforce and Skills Read More
Migration flows in commodity cycles: Assessing the role of migration policies Alan Duncan, Mark Harris, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Toan Nguyen 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 21 May 2020Journal Articles Read More
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – April 2020 Alan Duncan, Rebecca Cassells, Michael Dockery 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 18 May 2020Monthly Labour Market Update Read More
Working from Home in the COVID-19 Lockdown Michael Dockery, Sherry Bawa 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 8 May 2020COVID-19 Insights  |  Workforce and Skills  |  COVID-19 Insights Read More
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – March 2020 Alan Duncan, Rebecca Cassells, Michael Dockery 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 16 April 2020Monthly Labour Market Update Read More
BCEC Newsletter Summer 2019 Edition Caroline Stewart 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 9 April 2020Corporate Publications Read More
Short-term and long-term casual workers: how different are they? Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan 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 6 April 2020COVID-19 Insights Read More
Job Keepers and Job Seekers: How many workers will lose and how many will gain? Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan 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 31 March 2020COVID-19 Insights  |  Workforce and Skills Read More
Potential Job Losses in the COVID-19 Pandemic Rebecca Cassells, Michael Dockery, Alan Duncan, Daniel Kiely, Astghik Mavisakalyan 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 30 March 2020COVID-19 Insights  |  Workforce and Skills  |  COVID-19 Insights Read More
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – February 2020 Alan Duncan, Rebecca Cassells, Michael Dockery 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 28 March 2020Monthly Labour Market Update Read More
Physical Isolation: Staying Connected During COVID-19 Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan, Daniel Kiely, Astghik Mavisakalyan 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 26 March 2020COVID-19 Insights  |  Health and Wellbeing  |  Social Issues  |  COVID-19 Insights Read More
Paradise Postponed: Future Tense and Religiosity Astghik Mavisakalyan, Yashar Tarverdi, Clas Weber 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 25 March 2020Working Papers Read More