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As early as the 1980s, the avalanche of innovative performance witnessed in the global economy has seen the rise of the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is recognized as being a vital factor that promotes social change through innovation, leading to opportunities for job and wealth creation, thereby improving the economy. The study of entrepreneurship is, therefore, an important consideration for the long-term social and economic development of a nation. The contemporary competitive globalized work environment requires a range of entrepreneurial skills, not only to start new ventures but also for these ventures to thrive and be sustainable. Being an entrepreneur is an occupation based on specific properties of entrepreneurship. An exploratory study was conducted with university students in Australia to ascertain students' views on entrepreneurship and study programs. The responses were compared with an audit of course offerings from Australian universities' websites to determine whether current programs meet students' expectations in relation to the skills and abilities required to be a successful entrepreneur. The findings suggest that Australian entrepreneurship study programs should be reconceptualized to provide specific experiential learning that enables graduates to hit the ground running in start-ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the policy framework governing work and industrial relations in Australia and other liberal market economies is stuck in an outdated paradigm fixated on solving problems of labour that have diminished or no longer exist, such as excessive union power and overt forms of industrial conflict. This policy framework is poorly equipped for addressing increasingly urgent problems for labour, such as growing inequality and workforce insecurity. Drawing upon neo-pluralist ideas and the findings emerging from industrial relations research, the article presents recommendations for what a new industrial relations policy framework would look like. It advocates for the adoption of a neo-pluralist policy paradigm focused on the creation of quality employment, worker wellbeing, redistribution in bargaining and wage determination, fairer labour immigration policies, stronger protections against gender-based inequalities, and increased job security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broad consensus exists that Australian economic activity is too heavily concentrated in capital cities, and regional employment creation should be encouraged. Given the magnitude of international migration to Australia, it is important to determine the impact of migration on regional development by investigating business ownership and job creation by international migrants in regional areas. This paper examines the probability that regional migrant business owners are employers – and thereby employment generators – using a multivariate logit model. We find that migrant business owners with staff are more likely to be male, married and live in regional NSW, metropolitan Victoria and regional and metropolitan Queensland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory scenario planning (PSP) has mainly concerned scenario development and outreach, with less emphasis on scenario assessment. However, eliciting stakeholder responses to scenarios, focusing on subjective wellbeing, can increase the legitimacy, relevance, and applicability of PSP. We developed a PSP exercise with a multi-stakeholder, cross-cultural group in the Fitzroy River (Martuwarra) basin in Western Australia. Four scenarios were developed collaboratively, each describing alternative development pathways in the basin by 2050. We held two scenario assessment workshops: a multi-stakeholder workshop and a workshop with Traditional Owners (Aboriginal Australians) only. We first asked participants to consider and discuss the current situation in the basin regarding how well nine categories of wellbeing were satisfied. Then, for each scenario, participants assessed and scored the change in each wellbeing category relative to the current situation. Participants' ratings followed a similar pattern in both workshops, except for the scenario with strong policy and increased large-scale irrigation, which was scored mostly positively by the multi-stakeholder group, and mostly negatively by Traditional Owners. We identified different discourses that help to explain these results: (a) scenarios with large-scale agriculture, or with poorly regulated development, would increase the money circulating in the region, and benefits would trickle down to local communities through employment, enhancing most wellbeing categories; and (b) such modes of development might create jobs but could negatively impact other areas of wellbeing, potentially affecting culturally or environmentally significant places and increasing social inequities. We discuss how these results can support planning in the region, and how trade-offs were approached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Will automation raise unemployment and what is the role of education in this context? To answer these questions, we propose a search and matching model of the labour market with two skill types and with industrial robots. In line with evidence to date, robots are better substitutes for low-skilled workers than for high-skilled workers. We show that robot adoption leads to rising unemployment and falling wages of low-skilled workers and falling unemployment and rising wages of high-skilled workers. In a calibration to Austrian and German data, we find that robot adoption destroys fewer low-skilled jobs than the number of high-skilled jobs it creates. For Australia and the USA, the reverse holds true. Allowing for endogenous skill acquisition of workers implies positive employment effects of automation in all four countries. Thus, the firm creation mechanism in the search and matching model and skill acquisition are alleviating the adverse effects of automation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between widespread bushfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia has experienced unprecedented events that have shaken the economy since 2019. However, the risks to the economy have been brewing for some time and the lack of microeconomic reform has never been so evident as is now being shown. To propel Australia forward, government needs to generate revenue, support economic growth and job creation, and improve equity for future generations. Holistic reform of the Australian tax system is fundamental to these goals. The Tax Institute launched The Case for Change in July 2021, the result of a year's effort from hundreds of members and others. It is the platform for discussion on the future of Australia's tax system. Extracts from The Case for Change will be published in coming months. This month, we publish the first chapter, "The case for reform". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a consensus that the retention of youth in regional locations is fundamental to building sustainable regional communities; however, the lack of employment opportunities is a dominant cause of regional youth out-migration. It is plausible that economic prosperity arising from resource booms would create job opportunities and extend youth employment rates even in regional locations. We, therefore, analyse the Western Australian case of a decade-long mining boom (2004–2014) using secondary policy data and primary focus group interviews with youth from regional locations. We examine their employment experiences and the labour policy initiatives during a mining boom. A comparative analysis of secondary and primary data indicates the need for focussed regional inclusion initiatives. Our study suggests the need to implement localised youth employment policy interventions. The study highlights the policy implications particularly for future economic windfalls and international resource-rich regions seeking to broaden their regional development agendas and address overall unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinking cities can be considered as one of the most critical challenges of contemporary urban societies. Recently, this phenomenon has been the subject of growing interest both in terms of research and from an urban policy point of view. In this paper we argue that urban shrinkage and policy responses depend on the combination of global processes and local configurations. Based on a study of shrinking cities in Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, France and the USA, this paper first aims to explore the global process of urban shrinkage in different contexts. While the phenomenon is global it is anchored at the local level and subject to particular manifestations. After analyzing the general trends of urban shrinkage in the six countries considered, the second aim of this paper is to study the way in which policies implemented in shrinking cities differ in the various national contexts. This symposium argues that policy responses need to consider both the global forces behind shrinkage and the local context where particular characteristics are found. There are however three common areas where local actors in shrinking cities tend to focus their strategies and programs: community resilience; urban regeneration strategies; and tackling the social effects of urban shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]