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Against a backdrop of 'revolutionary' social and political developments in 2016, ICA Executive Director Ken Phillips has posted a new blog which looks at the prospects for the new world of work in the year ahead. Noting the seemingly unstoppable growth of all forms of self-employment, Ken also examines some of the adverse reactions to self-employment and surveys some recent (and quite diverse) academic discussion about the value of 'being your own boss'. You can read Ken's full blog post here. More...

Australians may not know all that much about the Tea Party in the USA. It’s effectively a party within the Republican Party defined as ‘hard right.’ Well, it is campaigning to have the US Tax (IRS) Commissioner impeached by Congress. In 2013, the IRS admitted that it had been targeting for scrutiny Tea Party groups in the 2012 election. Thousands of Tea Party members were targeted with ‘audits, threats and onerous interrogations’ because of their political affiliation.

Corruption or not by the IRS, it does demonstrate the extraordinary power of the instruments of the state. We don’t have a ‘corruption’ problem with the Australian Taxation Office but we did reiterate to Prime Minister Turnbull early this month that the treatment of self-employed people by the ATO is holding back entrepreneurship and innovation. The PM has referred our letter to the Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer and we will be talking with her.  More...

Here’s some common sense from Senator Bob Day’s inspiring first speech in Parliament.  Bob describes practical ways in which young people can get jobs and buy their first home. More...

Proof of the old journalistic adage that you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story: a 2002 video about the Australian textiles union's deceitful campaign about the pay rates of outworkers: More...

‘eLabour’ is changing the face of ‘employment’ across the globe. The Wall St Journal says that it's necessary to focus on being ‘employable’ rather than ‘employed.’ More comment from ‘New Jobs for Massachusetts’.  More...

One of the biggest challenges facing large firms these days is how to manage a ‘blended’ workforce. Few companies are able to operate with employees alone. The use of independent contractors ‘blended’ with employees is a new ‘normal’.  More...

The proportion of small business people not taking on new workers in Australia has risen during 2013 according to the latest survey by MYOB. This must be a significant explanation for the projected rise in Australian unemployment. As we’ve shown before (see figures below) more than 60 per cent of workers are in small business. If small business people are under pressure, employment really struggles!  More...

Penalty rate hikes in awards, particularly weekend and public holiday rates, are causing Australia to undergo a backward revolution. It's a step into the past by stealth. Restrictive trading hours are being imposed through the mechanism of business-breaking cost hikes. Full article here. More...

Technology is – again – about to transform the way people work, resulting in another big surge in self-employment.

This next technological revolution is 3D printing. It’s here, it’s now, but it’s just in its tiny beginning. Simple 3D printers are already within a price range for most people – at under $1500. Certainly they’re a novelty at the moment, producing paper toys and the like, but could explode in affordable sophistication. Story continues... More...

Things are looking up! The Daily Telegraph reports the largest surge in self-employment since 1989. A trend they say that could save the UK economy.  And the Wall St Journal says you can still be a self-employed entrepreneur and have a love life!!! Wow! That’s a relief!  More...