Making connections: Rethinking employment services design
Date and time: Thursday 11 December 2025, 12pm to 2pm
Location: National Portrait Gallery, King Edward Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600
What barriers to employment do disadvantaged jobseekers face today? And how can we remove those barriers?
The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research will organise a public economics forum to explore these questions with insights from a diverse panel of academic experts, who will contribute to this vital discourse on employment services design, and how to connect employers and jobseekers.
Host: Dr Barbara Broadway (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne)
Moderator: Jacinda Still (Group Manager (Acting), Disability Employment, Department of Social Services)
Speakers:
Professor Jo Ingold (Australian Catholic University)
The case for reorienting active labour market policies towards the demand-side
Professor Ingold will examine the limitations of active labour market policies, particularly for individuals facing multiple and complex barriers to employment. Her work argues for a reorientation of these policies towards the demand side, with the aim of increasing access to good-quality jobs and improving outcomes for organisations and the wider Australian economy.
Professor Jeff Borland (University of Melbourne)
Reform of employment services in Australia: What should we be doing?
Multiple reviews of Australia’s employment services system over the past decade have concluded that it is broken. In this talk Professor Borland will describe how we got to this state, and where we need to go with reform – specifically: What is the assistance we should be aiming to provide for jobseekers facing high barriers to employment, and how can we begin to move to a system that will deliver that assistance?
Dr Marissa Shields, (University of Melbourne)
Enabling employment: Improving outcomes for Australians with disabilities
Dr Shields will discuss disability and the inequalities in employment experienced by Australians with disabilities. She will then explore what is needed to help people with disabilities gain and maintain employment and how this overlaps with previous and current approaches to boost employment among this group.
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