Funding and employment conditions : critical issues for Australian music therapy beyond 2009

As the Australian Journal of Music Therapy celebrates its 20th year of publication, it is evident that the profession of music therapy in Australia, has made substantial progress over these last 20 years. Jobs are regularly advertised on the website, there is a greater public awareness of what music therapy is, there are government recognised salary awards applicable in several states of the country, working conditions have generally improved, and many Australian music therapists are recognised on the international stage as leaders in their field of expertise. You can even go to a party and tell someone you are a music therapist and there is a good chance they will say 'oh yeah, I know someone who does that at the hospital / school / community centre / nursing home' instead of saying 'oh, so like, a what?'. Despite the impressive leaps and bounds that have been made, and the success of many programs in Australia to date, there is still a great deal of room for improvement. What are the critical issues ahead for the development of music therapy in Australia? In particular, how do music therapists develop going forward and secure funding for clinical initiatives? In reflecting on this question, this article identifies two key areas, amongst the many, that can be addressed by music therapists over the next 20 years: funding and employment conditions. Examples from the national early intervention music therapy program 'Sing and Grow' are used to illustrate the potential impact of addressing these two issues on the positive development of the profession into the future.

Ex-post evaluation of the employment effects of a preferential trade agreement: methodological issues, illustrated with a reference to Chile

Includes bibliography

Electronic commerce, international trade and employment: review of the issues

Includes bibliography

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Labour productivity and distribution issues

Although the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew more slowly in 2011 than in 2010, there were some improvements on the employment front. Workers benefited from the region’s satisfactory economic performance in an increasingly complex international setting. The unemployment rate fell from 7.3% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2011 thanks to a halfpercentage- point gain in the urban employment rate. Both rates are at levels that have not been seen for a long time. The proportion of formal jobs with social benefits rose as well, and underemployment declined. The average wage and the minimum wage both increased in real terms, albeit only moderately. Economic performance and the employment situation varied widely among the subregions. The unemployment rate dropped by 0.6 percentage points in South America but 0.4 percentage points in the countries of the northern part of Latin America. In the countries of the Caribbean, the employment rate was up by 0.2 percentage points. The data show that substantial labour market gaps and serious labour-market insertion issues remain. This is especially the case for women and young people, for whom unemployment rates and other labour indicators are still unfavourable. The second part of this report looks at whether the fruits of economic growth and rising productivity have been distributed equitably between workers and companies. Between 2002 and 2008 (the most recent expansionary economic cycle), wages as a percentage of GDP fell in 13 of the 21 countries of the region for which data are available and rose in just 8. This points to redistribution that is unfavourable to workers, which is worrying in a region which already has the most unequal distribution of income in the world. Underlying this trend is the fact that, worldwide, wages have grown less than productivity. Beyond the ethical dimension of this issue, it jeopardizes the social and economic sustainability of growth. For example, one of the root causes of the recent financial crisis was that households in the United States responded to declining wage income by borrowing more to pay for consumption and housing. This turned out to be unsustainable in the long run. Over time, it undermines the labour market’s contribution to the efficient allocation of resources and its distributive function, too, with negative consequences for democratic governance. Among the triggers of this distributive worsening most often cited in the global debate are market deregulation and its impact on financial globalization, technological change that favours capital over labour, and the weakening of labour institutions. What is needed here is a public policy effort to help keep wage increases from lagging behind increases in productivity. Some countries of the region, especially in South America, saw promising developments during the second half of the 2000s in the form of a positive trend reversal in wages as a percentage of GDP. One example is Brazil, where a minimum wage policy tailored to the dynamics of the domestic market is considered to be one of the factors behind an upturn in the wage share of GDP. The region needs to grow more and better. Productivity must grow at a steady pace, to serve as the basis for sustained improvements in the well-being of the populace and to narrow the gap between the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean and the more advanced economies. And inequality must be decreased; this could be achieved by closing the productivity gap between upgraded companies and the many firms whose productivity is low. As set out in this report, the region made some progress between 2002 and 2010, with labour productivity rising at the rate of 1.5% a year. But this progress falls short of that seen in other regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa (2.1%) and, above all, East Asia (8.3%, not counting Japan and the Republic of Korea). Moreover, in many of the countries of the region these gains have not been distributed equitably. Therein lies a dual challenge that must be addressed: continue to increase productivity while enhancing the mechanisms for distributing gains in a way that will encourage investment and boost worker and household income. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate that the pace of economic growth in the region will be slightly slower in 2012 than in 2011, in a global economic scenario marked by the cooling of several of the main economic engines and a high degree of uncertainty concerning, above all, prospects for the euro zone. The region is expected to continue to hold up well to this worsening scenario, thanks to policies that leveraged more favourable conditions in the past. This will be felt in the labour markets, as well, so expectations are that unemployment will edge down by as much as two tenths of a decimal point.

Improving youth employment prospects : issues and options /

Mode of access: Internet.

Equality issues in South Dakota women's employment /

"February 1996."

Appropriate wage rate and related issues for employment intensive public works programmes in Timor Leste

Employment generating public works (EGPW) are an important part of GoTL’s strategy to reduce unemployment, underemployment and poverty and contribute to social stability. The term EGPW is used in this report as a generic term to encompass labour intensive (LI) and labourbased (LB) approaches. The distinction between these approaches is made below. SEFOPE is being supported by a number of international agencies to develop and implement employment generating public works programmes (EGPWPs). Other government ministries and agencies and NGOs offering different wage rates are also engaged in such programmes and projects. In setting wage rates for such programmes, it is necessary to take account of (a) the nature of benefits they offer (e.g. the balance between employment creation and effective use of labour); (b) the beneficiaries to be targeted, and (c) any adverse impacts on other economic activities. The purposes of this assignment are: (a) to make recommendations on appropriate wage rates for unskilled casual employment on public works programmes, and (b) make a broad assessment of the labour supply response to the employment opportunities created by employment intensive programmes. The latter would help in gauging the scale of such activities required.

Chinese seafarers on foreign ships: Employment and welfare issues

Abstract not available

Evaluating equal employment opportunity and its impact on the increased participation of men and women in the transport industry

This paper seeks to identify the approaches undertaken in implementing equal employment opportunity in the transport industry in Australia and the links between these approaches and indicators of increased participation of women. This male dominated industry employs limited numbers of women with fewer numbers of women in management. The study analyses data from a unique set of equal opportunity progress reports from all organisations in the transport industry that are required to provide public reports under Australian legislation. The findings indicate a correlation between some approaches to equal opportunity and increased numbers of women in some areas. The study is equally remarkable for what it does not find. Despite widespread equal opportunity implementation across a broad number of employment measures there are limited measures that predict increases in the numbers of women in management or in non-traditional roles. This study differs from others in that it identifies issues specific to one industry and links organisational approach to equal opportunity with the employment status of both women and men.

'Getting a job' : Aborignal Women's issues and experiences in the health sector

Indigenous participation in employment has long been seen as an indicator of Indigenous economic participation in Australia. Researchers have linked participation in employment to improved health outcomes, increased education levels and greater self-esteem. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Indigenous workforce policies and employment strategies as employers and industries attempt to employ more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Coupled with this has been a push to employ more Indigenous people in specific sectors to address the multiple layers of disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people, for example, the health sector. This paper draws on interview discussions with Aboriginal women in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, along with findings from the research of others to offer a greater understanding of the mixed benefits of increased Indigenous employment. What is demonstrated is that the nature of Indigenous employment is complex and not as simple as ‘just getting a job’.

Mental health issues and resources in rural and regional communities : an exploration of perceptions of service providers

Objective: To identify service providers’ and community organisations’ perceptions of the resources available to support people with mental illness and the unmet needs of this client group in rural Queensland. Design: An exploratory study was undertaken involving focus group interviews across the study sites. Setting: Five regional towns in rural Queensland. Participants: Ten to 14 members were recruited for each of the five focus groups. The groups represented a diverse mix of participants including health and community service providers and representatives from community organisations. Results: Participants identified gaps in services in relation to health, employment and education, housing and accommodation, transport and social inclusion and health promotion. Inter-service communication and inappropriate funding models were themes affecting service delivery. Conclusions: Specific service issues of housing and transport were identified to be particularly problematic for people with mental illness across all towns. Intersectoral communication and funding models require further research.

Effective employment-based training models for childcare workers

Childcare workers play a significant role in the learning and development of children in their care. This has major implications for the training of workers. Under new reforms of the childcare industry the Australian government now requires all workers to obtain qualifications from a vocational education and training provider (eg. Technical and Further Education) or university. Effective models of employment-based training are critical to provide training to highly competent workers. This paper presents findings from a study that examined current and emerging models of employment-based training in the childcare sector, particularly at the Diploma level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 16 participants who represented childcare directors, employers, and workers located in childcare services in urban, regional and remote locations in the State of Queensland. The study proposes a ‘best-fit’ employment-based training approach that is characterised by a compendium of five models instead of a ‘one size fits all’. Issues with successful implementation of the EBT models are also discussed