Same job/same pay: a bold and novel proposal for labour market regulation

In recent years the Australian Labor Party (ALP or Opposition) has placed great emphasis on the need to address what it sees as the problem of insecure work and low wages. Its policy platform for this election extends the notion of 'insecure work' far more broadly than merely casual employment. In recent weeks Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese, and his industrial relations spokesperson, Tony Burke, grouped together people working on rolling fixed term contracts, contractors in the gig economy and employees of labour hire companies, as 'insecure workers'.¹

A useful way to get a grip on the impact of the proposals the ALP is taking to the Federal election is to think about the part such workers play in the labour market and the differences between their work experience and that of conventional permanent full time employees. On the 19^th April, the Australian Financial Review has editorialised on the issue, referring to a report co-authored by the ALP