ABSTRACT Research Question/Issue Retirement age expectations and preferences are shaped by individual, social, and government policy influences. Our paper reviews major policy changes in the Australian Retirement Income System over the past two decades and documents changes in Australian workers' expected and preferred retirement age. Research Findings/Insights We identify three key results. First, workers prefer to retire earlier than they expect to, on average. Second, both expected and preferred retirement age increased through the 2000s and 2010s but stalled from 2017. Third, a significant proportion of workers do not know when they expect to retire. Practitioner/Policy Implications In the absence of the ability to set a mandatory retirement age, a key objective of retirement policy has been to raise retirement age. Our results suggest that while workers' expectations and preferences reflect this, they have stalled somewhat. Further, a small but persistent proportion of workers do not form expectations which, given its importance in successful workforce exit plans and retirement wellbeing, presents a key challenge. Methods Used We describe changes in policy over the past two decades before describing patterns and dynamics in retirement age expectations and preferences of workers aged 45–60, 2003–2023 using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.

ABSTRACT Background This article presents a summary of the main ideas for improving productivity from nine prominent Australian economists. Aims These ideas covered the need to reduce redundant regulations, smooth demand for power, reform incentives for skill acquisition, regulate AI, enhance competition, invest in place‐based innovation ecosystems and encourage employers to make jobs more family friendly. Materials and Methods The content of this article draws on the research and policy backgrounds of nine prominent Australian social scientists. Results and Discussion A selection of overlooked policy priorities are canvassed. Conclusion During each term of office, governments have limited resources to implement change and should develop priorities based on objective evidence on the best value for the Australian people.

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, Australia, like other OECD countries, has deployed active labour market policies (ALMPs) to assist unemployed individuals into employment. Extant scholarship in economics and other disciplines demonstrates the limitations of ALMPs, particularly for individuals who are long‐term unemployed and with multiple, complex barriers to employment. Critiques hinge on the limitations of the predominant supply‐side approach focused on case management and preparing individuals for employment without accounting for the behaviours and practices of the demand‐side (employers). This article argues that a reorienting of ALMPs towards the demand side is urgently required and proposes a blueprint to take this forward.

ABSTRACT This article (i) provides a brief history of how the employment services system in Australia has come to fail jobseekers with high barriers to employment; (ii) presents an overview of the elements of a successful programme for those jobseekers; and (iii) makes recommendations on how to make progress on improving the system for delivery of employment services, building from the Hill report'.

ABSTRACTThis policy forum examines the Australian NAIRU, a key measure in describing the relationship between labour market slack and inflation, through four complementary lenses. First, Borland and Harris evaluate the RBA's dashboard‐style, narrative approach to gauging labour‐market slack. Second, Ballantyne and Cusbert estimate a state‐space model that points to a current NAIRU near 5% and weaker feedback from past inflation. Third, Gross tests alternative state‐space specifications, clustering the NAIRU in the 4%–5% range and supporting a 4.5% benchmark. Finally, Dawkins and Garnaut propose a pragmatic test: tighten conditions until wage pressure lifts inflation. Together, the papers compare methods, weigh the evidence, and set out the policy trade‐offs in today's NAIRU debate.

ABSTRACTThis article reviews the RBA's use of indicators (descriptive information) to assess spare capacity and full employment in Australia's labour market. Three main topics are addressed: the choice of indicators; how to interpret the meaning of each indicator for assessing spare capacity; and how to aggregate information from the indicators to come to an overall judgement on the state of the labour market.