Australia has an international commitment to maintain a free employment service and has policies designed to promote full, productive, and freely chosen employment.

Workforce Australia is the Australian government’s headline employment service. It commenced on 4 July 2022, and is administered by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and is one of three key programs within the broader national employment services system. The other programs are:

• Disability Employment Services (DES), which includes Employment Support Services (DES-ESS) and Disability Management Services (DES-DMS), administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS); and
• Community Development Program (CDP), administered by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).

A common theme in evidence was that there are high numbers of jobseekers on the caseload who are facing disadvantage or present with complex and often multiple barriers to work.

Jobseekers in Workforce Australia are required to complete specified activities to receive income support. These are referred to as mutual obligation requirements. These requirements are outlined in an Employment Pathway Plan (known as a Job Plan or Participation Plan depending on program). Individuals must report completion of obligations on a regular basis, unless exempt.

Report structure:

• Chapter 1 provides a summary of the Workforce Australia employment services system, and insights relating to unemployed people in Australia. It also sets out the structure of the report.
• Chapter 2 provides the case for reform to the employment services system. It details key issues with the current system, capturing views of policy experts and those with lived experience.
• Chapter 3 provides an overview of key State, and international employment programs from which lessons may be drawn in reforming Australia’s national system.
• Chapter 4 outlines the core principles that should underpin the design of a rebuilt employment services system, including core objectives, measures to support a single, national, coordinated employment service system and the role of government as steward and co-producer of employment services.
• Chapter 5 outlines principles that should underpin a typology of services that responds to the diverse needs of jobseekers and employers.
• Chapter 6 considers issues related to service capability, including qualifications and skills for frontline staff, and strategies to attract and retain a suitably qualified workforce.
• Chapter 7 considers issues associated with administration of employment services, including accreditation, audit, and assurance requirements, administrative burden, and the role of an independent regulator.
• Chapter 8 considers issues associated with innovation and experimentation, data sharing, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Chapter 9 examines the features of an effective service gateway, including contact with clients and assessment and referral processes.
• Chapter 10 examines the design and delivery of digital-hybrid services, including measures to ensure jobseekers are equipped to engage with digital services and key features of a hybrid, digital-based employment service for jobseekers and employers.
• Chapter 11 examines the design and delivery of person-centred case management services for jobseekers, with a focus on enabling greater choice and control over engagement with services, supporting long-term career planning, and ensuring services meet the needs of individuals over their pathway to employment.
• Chapter 12 examines the design and delivery of services to employers, with a focus to improving engagement with the system, improving recruitment and work practices, and reducing perceived risks associated with hiring jobseekers from the employment services caseload.
• Chapter 13 examines Active Labour Market Programs (ALMPs), which includes access to education and training, community employment programs, paid work experience, existing complementary programs and wage subsidies, and the role that ALMPs and complementary programs may have in the employment services system.
• Chapter 14 examines mutual obligation, compliance, and enforcement, with a focus on designing a system which supports rather than punishes jobseekers.
• Chapter 15 examines commissioning, funding, and regulatory culture, including measures to ensure the system is able to continually improve and respond to changes in the labour market.
• Chapter 16 provides for transitional arrangements, including indicative timeframes for implementing the Committee’s recommendations.