WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL INCLUSION


There are powerful equity as well as economic motivations for increasing workforce participation and providing pathways into work for people who are disadvantaged in the open labour market. Social exclusion can be defined as the interconnection and presence of employment deprivation (unemployment and non-participation in the labour market), economic deprivation (poverty) and socio-cultural deprivation (social isolation). Social Inclusion aims at building an understanding of disadvantage based on people's ability to participate in society, rather than simply financial measures such as the level of income or expenditure. As such the concept of social inclusion is a multidimensional conceptualisation of poverty and disadvantage that promises to take both social and economic dimensions into account and to focus not only on unequal outcomes, but on the processes that creates them. The focus of social inclusion is full participation in all aspects of social life and is concerned about any rupture of the social bond which prevents this occurring, such as unemployment, segregation, marginalisation, and discrimination. However, current research has highlighted the need to also consider the exclusionary potential of certain types of low paid or low quality work. The WRC has examined a range of issues associated with the dynamics of workforce participation as a key force in shaping the nature of social inclusion in contemporary Australia. Our most recent work has examined the particular challenges associated with boosting levels of workforce participation amongst indigenous Australians and the role of vocational education and training (VET) in boost labour supply.