Principal speaker
Dr Damian Oliver
Abstract: An assumed incentive for an individual to complete a vocational education and training (VET) qualification is the chance to earn higher pay. This paper examines the relationship between AQF qualifications, job roles and pay rates in Australia's 122 modern awards. Modern awards directly determine the pay and employment conditions of around one in five Australian workers (many of them in VET-relevant occupations) and indirectly influence many more by setting the standard for enterprise agreements.
Each classification in each modern award was analysed and allocated to one of six categories describing the relationship between an AQF qualification and the pay rate, ranging from no mention of an AQF qualification to exclusive (only someone with that AQF qualification can be employed in that classification). Preliminary data suggest:
- 35 out of 122 modern awards contain no reference to AQF qualifications
- In contrast, 31 out of 122 modern awards contain at least one classification that (in theory) guarantees an employee with a particular qualification a higher pay rate.
The seminar will detail how these patterns linking qualifications to classifications vary by industry. While awards in traditional blue collar areas such as manufacturing include extensive connections between AQF qualifications and job classifications, many modern awards in fast growing service industries contain few, or no, connections.
The seminar will also cover how frequently the various qualification levels are mentioned in modern awards, as well as the pay range that different qualification levels are linked to.
These findings show that the once strong links between the VET system and the industrial relations system in Australia have weakened and fragmented over time, particularly in the last twenty years. The seminar will explore the implications for skill utilisation and labour productivity.
Speaker: Damian Oliver is Leading Research Analyst at the Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney Business School. He conducts applied research for a range of government, NGO and private sector clients in the areas of workforce development and labour standards. His primary research interest is the intersection between the industrial relations and education systems. He completed his PhD in industrial relations at Griffith University in 2007.
Co-author: Kurt Walpole is a research assistant at the Workplace Research Centre and a PhD student in the Graduate School of Government at the University of Sydney. His PhD is examining the changing relationship between arbitration, awards and private bargaining in Australia since 1900.
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