Australia's population continues to increase, far ahead of schedule. In the late 1990s, even the highest growing predictions estimated our migrant population growth to accrue to perhaps 70,000 or 80,000 per year. Today, overseas migration accounts for 62% of our population growth, with a net of 240,000 additional migrants calling Australia home each year. Together with our natural increase, we are growing by almost 400,000 people each year. Source: ABS Quarterly Demographic S

Financial stress, casualisation of the workforce, and digital disruption impacting how we spend our time I had a chat this afternoon with Nova’s FiveAA host, Alan Hickey, on how Australian workers spend their lunch breaks. A recent study by Quickbooks shows that 23% of Australians work through their lunch break every day. A further 10% never work through their meal break. Apparently the ‘land of the long weekend’ means that we work harder than ever throughout the week… or is

What do Gen Z aspire to be when they grow up? I was recently asked to unpack the latest findings from the Australian Institute on Family Studies on ABC The Drum. Gender-based career preferences The AIFS identified there are significant gender differences among Gen Zs aged 14 and 15 when they think about their possible futures. Boys gravitate most towards engineering (14% of those who stated an occupation), information technology (10%), construction (9%), automotive (8%), or s

The Census results, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today, reveal a picture of a changing Australia. Our nation is larger, older, more culturally diverse and less religious than at any other time in history. A nation of 24.6 million and growth of 8.8% since the 2011 Census On Census night in 2016, 23.4 million individuals who normally live in Australia were counted – an 8.8% increase from 2011. This doesn’t include the 300,000 visitors, or the 600,000 Australi

The typical Australian is a 38 year-old Gen X woman who is married with two children, lives in a mortgaged 3 bedroom home, and was born in Australia with English ancestry. Both her parents were born in Australia, too. She is working full-time and gets to work by car (like 69% of commuters), and her car likely clocks up 14,000kms per year. Not only does she work full-time, she also does between 5 and 14 hours of housework per day. Sounds like a busy woman. Further analysis of

The year 2017 has begun in an environment of perplexed global sentiment. From Brexit to the election of President Trump, the last 9 months have been far from a smooth ride on the world stage, showing a trend towards growing isolationism and increasing uncertainty. For most advanced economies, this uncertainty has bred an increase in nationalism and a move away from globalisation. In Australia, our response – in part fuelled by our strong work ethic and historic undercurrent –

Analysis on new research released this week by the OECD highlights the challenge for young people entering their working years, particularly in their transition from education. While unemployment in Australia at just 5.6% is one of the lowest in the developed world, the number of Australian young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) has increased by 100,000 since the time prior to the Global Financial Crisis (2008), rising from 10.5% to 11.8% of all those

I am often asked to deliver keynote presentations to educators, career advisors, and executives on the future job market. What jobs will remain, and which ones will soon no longer exist? What we know is that 44% of Australian jobs (5.1 million current jobs) are at risk from digital disruption in the next 20 years. At the same time, 75% of Australia’s fastest growing occupations require STEM Skills - Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Studies on employees in the UK ha