Category: workforce participation

Republicans Reexamining Work Rules in Clinton-Era Assistance Program

Social workers told a subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee that work requirements in the Temporary Aid for Need Families (TANF) program doesn’t fully capture everything a client is doing to pull themselves out of poverty. “You can job search for 86 hours in a month, but it doesn’t measure what the customer…


Where the Men Are—They’re Not at Work

Commentary In a recent podcast with Mike Rowe, the host of the popular show “Dirty Jobs,” which highlights the value of blue-collar work, Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute said, “Since the [COVID] pandemic broke, the number of unfilled jobs has gone up by about 4 million. And since the pandemic broke, the number…


Australian State Mandates Gender Quotas on Construction Sites

In an Australian-first Building Equality Policy (BEP), the Victorian government has announced that the country’s most male-dominated industry will need to employ a minimum number of women by 2024 or face penalties. Aimed at “disrupting gender stereotypes,” women now need to make up at least 38 percent of roles in government-contracted projects to help more women…


Australian Unemployment Rate Falls to 14-year Low

The Australian unemployment rate for December 2021 fell to 4.2 percent, the lowest level since August 2008, just prior to the start of the Global Financial Crisis. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that around 65,000 jobs were created during the month, of which approximately two-thirds were filled by men and one-third…


Australian Child Care Subsidy Fast-Tracked by Four Months

Families with two or more children will be able to benefit from an increased Child Care Subsidy (CCS) from March 7, 2022, four months earlier than initially planned. The annual $10,655 cap will also be removed on Dec. 10, 2021 and retrospectively applied for the current financial year, so families do not have to worry…