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Across the OECD, policy makers are grappling with a critical question: how to create jobs? The recent financial crisis and economic downturn has had serious consequences across most OECD countries, with rising unemployment rates and jobs being lost across many sectors. Indeed, for some countries, the effects of the downturn are continuing, if not amplifying. Shrinking public budgets in some countries also mean that policy makers must now do more with less. In this context, it is necessary to think laterally about how actions in one area, such as employment and training, can have simultaneous benefits in others, such as creating new jobs and better supporting labour market inclusion.
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The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed the OECD Reviews on Local Job Creation as an international cross-comparative study examining the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment and productivity. In Australia, the review has looked at the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies. In-depth work was undertaken in two priority employment areas: Ballarat-Bendigo and Ipswich-Logan.
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The OECD Local Job Creation project involves a series of country reviews in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada (Ontario and Quebec), the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy (Autonomous Province of Trento), Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (California and Michigan). The key stages of each review are summarised in Box 0.1.
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This chapter provides an overview of Australia’s employment and skills system. While the global financial crisis placed significant pressure on the Australian economy, it has remained resilient due to a sound macroeconomic framework and continued robust demand for commodities. Employment policies are managed at the national level by the Department of Employment and delivered through an outsourced network of service providers (Job Services Australia). In response to the crisis, Australia implemented a series of measures aimed at stimulating employment in areas most vulnerable to future downturns. This included the introduction of local employment co-ordinators, who identify the needs of local areas and match them with employment, education and training opportunities.
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To better understand the role of the local level in contributing to job creation and productivity, this study examined local activities in two priority employment areas in Australia: i) Ballarat-Bendigo; and ii) Ipswich-Logan. Both areas face unique employment and labour market challenges, which affect their growth and competitiveness. This chapter provides a labour market and economic overview of each region as well as the results from an OECD LEED statistical tool which looks at the relationship between skills supply and demand at the sub-national level.
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This chapter highlights findings from the Local Job Creation Dashboard in Australia. The findings are discussed through the four thematic areas of the review: i) better aligning policies and programmes to local employment development; ii) adding value through skills; iii) targeting policy to local employment sectors and investing in quality jobs; and iv) inclusion.
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Stimulating job creation at the local level requires integrated actions across the employment, training and economic development portfolios. Co-ordinated place-based policies can help workers find suitable jobs, while also contributing to shaping the demand, thereby stimulating job creation and productivity. This requires flexible policy management frameworks, information and integrated partnerships which leverage the efforts of employment, training and economic development stakeholders. This chapter outlines the key recommendations emerging from the review of local job creation policies in Australia.