Retail in Asia

In People

Australian gov’t working with retailers to build better job services

The Australian government is seeking ways to improve worker-employer relations in the services sector.

Assistant Minister for Employment Luke Hartsuyker met with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) in Melbourne to ensure that Job Services Australia (JSA) is more efficient and effective.

“This government is committed to targeting employment programmes appropriately at job seekers and employers,” Hartsuyker said.

The meeting with ARA executives was meant to listen to their ideas on how to remove barriers to employment participation.

“We want to get every Australian who is capable of working a job. We face a big challenge as yesterday’s figures show, with full-time employment suffering its largest calendar year decline since December 1992," Hartsuyker said.

The retail sector is the nation’s second largest employer, accounting for almost 11 percent of Australia’s total workforce and employing more than 1.2 million people.

Forecasts by the Department of Employment suggest jobs growth in retail of more than 109,000, or almost 9 percent, to the end of 2017. The government wants to create one million jobs over the next five years.