The Working Lives project: a window into Australian education and workforce participation

Lifting the rate of workforce participation in Australia has been called 'the challenge of the decade'. In light of the ageing workforce, changing nature of work demands and workforce attitudes, the need for insight into current patterns of workforce participation has never been more urgent. The following paper offers an overview of an Australian Research Council funded, small scale, exploratory Linkage Project which charts the first 10 years of the working lives of a group of skilled Australian workers. Using a mixed methods approach involving a retrospective, quasi-longitudinal, life course methodology focusing on self-reported reasons for job changes, the study examined the major life events and occupational transitions experienced by two groups of graduates: one from a trade and the other from a higher education pathway. The study documents an increasing emphasis on work-life balance for these workers and provides some insight into educational and workplace practice changes. The findings also indicate educational considerations concerning pathway and re-entry programmes that can facilitate flexible, contemporary career trajectories. Pathway and re-entry programmes have the potential to maximise skill usage and personal career satisfaction. Issues related to career choice, future career planning and career change need to be more effectively addressed at the education system, organisational and governmental levels.