Shift from Agricultural Industries to Manufacturing and Service Oriented Workforce
The global work environment has changed considerably over the decades, owing to various factors like those of changes in the demographic patterns, the changes in types and nature of education and skills developed among the working population as well as that of international phenomena of key significance like that of Globalisation, trade liberalisations, infrastructural and technological innovations (Cavusgil et al. 2014). Australia, in this context, being one of the primary developed economies across the globe, has also experienced considerable changes in the nature of its work environment, from economic, cultural as well as environmental aspects.
As discussed above, Australia being one of the primary economically and industrially developed countries in the contemporary period, has experienced considerable changes and dynamics in its work environment, both in terms of work forces as well as in terms of the nature of work, procedures and other aspects, which are discussed in this section.
One of the primary changes which can be seen to be occurring in the work environment of Australia, in terms of economic aspects, is that of the gradual but highly noticeable shift of the same from being highly reliant on agricultural industries towards being a primarily manufacturing and service industry oriented one.
Figure 1: Shifts in types of industries in Australia over the years
(Source: Rba.gov.au 2018)
As can be seen from the above figure, the manufacturing industry did not sustain its growth in the recent period although service sector developed considerably (O’Regan and Potter 2013). The primary reason behind the same may be the presence of cheap overseas competitors in the manufacturing industries. The development of the service sector industries and the contraction in the manufacturing and agricultural industries have led to a skewness in the scope of employment for workers of different skills, as can be seen from the following figure:
Figure 2: Employment growth (2001-2015)
(Source: Rba.gov.au 2018)
This in turn, has resulted in increased economic well-being of the workforces (skilled ones) in the service sector industries while the economic well-being of the labours (with basic and subsistence skills) in the manufacturing industries do not seem to increase by that extent (Tuckerman et al. 2012). However, the average wages of the workers in the country can be seen to be increasing consistently over the years, which can be seen from the following figure:
Figure 3: Increase in average weekly wages in Australia
(Source: Tradingeconomics.com 2018)
However, the distribution of the wages among the workforces can be seen to be non-uniform and varying across the industries, as can be seen from the following figure:
Skewness in Employment Opportunities due to Changes in Workforce Composition
Figure 4: Changes in relative wage levels in Australia over the years
(Source: Rba.gov.au 2018)
Apart from the economic changes, considerable changes and dynamics can also be seen to have occurred in the work environment of the concerned country, from the social aspects. The primary change which has taken place in the work environment of the country is that of the inclusion of increasing number of female workforces in the mainstream workplaces of the country. This can be seen with the help of the following figure:
Figure 5: Gender-wise work force participation rate in Australia (1978-2012)
(Source: Aph.gov.au 2018)
As is evident from the above figure, the rate of participation of female workers in work environment of Australia has been increasing over the years, unlike that of the rate of participation of the male workforces, which can be seen to be decreasing by a small amount in the contemporary period (Barak 2016).
Another crucial social change which can be seen to have occurred in the work environment of Australia, over the years, is that of the increase in the number of participants and complexities in the operational framework of the work environments of the businesses and organizations (both public and private ones). In the earlier period, the work environment mainly consists of only employers and employees. However, with time the importance of the presence of other players like that of government as well as strong trade unions were felt in the work environment of the country as the same were needed to maintain a balance between the interests of the employers and the employees.
Figure 6: Participants in the workplace
(Source: As created by the author)
Apart from the increasing number of participants in the social scenario of the work environment, the level of diversities in the workplaces have also increased overtime, in the working environment of Australia. This can be attributed to the increasing number of migrants who have been coming in the country over the years, with the aim of settling down and getting jobs in the country.
The working procedures of the organizations have also gone considerable changes in the aspects of environment, both in terms of work environment for the employees as well as in terms of increasing awareness regarding the importance of preserving environmental qualities. On one hand, the work environment is becoming increasingly informal, warm, casual and flexible to bring positive vibes and encourage workers to put in more effort. The concept of “Intrapreneurs” is also coming, referring to those workers who have the ability to think of new ideas and operational procedures as well as plans for their employers (Vischer 2012). On the other hand, with rising awareness of environmental degradation and its impacts, the workplaces are increasingly investing on developing eco-friendly work environments with minimum damages to the environment and the scarce resources.
Increased Economic Participation of Women in the Workforce
The changes in the work environment in the concerned country can be seen to have considerable implications in the local, national as well as global level. In global level, the increasing prospects of the businesses and increasing average wages of the population have attracted huge number of people from across the globe, as can be seen from the following figure:
Figure 7: Increasing number of migrants
(Source: Homeaffairs.gov.au 2018)
This, in turn has created excess supply of workers in the manufacturing industry, as most of the migrants have subsistent skills, which in turn can be seen to be hampering the job prospects of the nationals in this domain while those with higher skills can be seen to be getting absorbed in the service sector industries (Collins 2013). In the local and national level, participation of women has increased in the workforce and the increasing demand for workers in the service industries, has also led to increasing demand for skill-development and career oriented educational programs in the country. Besides this, the localities or areas near the service industries, mining, automobile and other industrial hubs can be seen to be experiencing increase in population, thereby increasing the prices of residential assets in those regions.
Conclusion
As is evident from the above discussion, the Australian work environment has changed considerably over the years, in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects and has become more complex, dynamic, inclusive as well as diverse and worker friendly over the years. However, the skewness in the manufacturing and service sectors have affected the employment scopes of people of different skill-sets, diversely. Considerable immigration has taken place in search of jobs in the country owing to its healthy work environment and there remains considerable variations of the impacts of the changes in the local, national and global level.
References
Aph.gov.au 2018. Women in the Australian workforce A 2013 update – Parliament of Australia. [online] Aph.gov.au. Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2013/March/Women_in_the_Australian_workforce_A_2013_update [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.
Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J.R., Rammal, H.G. and Rose, E.L., 2014. International business. Pearson Australia.
Collins, J., 2013. Rethinking Australian immigration and immigrant settlement policy. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 34(2), pp.160-177.
Homeaffairs.gov.au 2018. Fact sheet – population growth. [online] Homeaffairs.gov.au. Available at: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/population-growth [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
O’Regan, T. and Potter, A., 2013. Globalisation from within? The de-nationalising of Australian film and television production. Media International Australia, 149(1), pp.5-14.
Rba.gov.au 2018. The Changing Nature of the Australian Workforce | Speeches | RBA. [online] Reserve Bank of Australia. Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2016/sp-so-2016-09-21.html [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
Tradingeconomics.com 2018. Australia Average Weekly Wages | 1969-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar. [online] Tradingeconomics.com. Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/wages [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
Tuckerman, P., Cain, P., Long, B. and Klarkowski, J., 2012. An exploration of trends in open employment in Australia since 1986. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 37(3), pp.173-183.
Vischer, J.C., 2012. Workspace strategies: Environment as a tool for work. Springer Science & Business Media.
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