The issue of job quality is again popular amongst researchers and policy-makers throughout the advanced economies. Better, not just more, jobs are what are now needed. Good quality jobs boost the economic and social well-being of individuals, firms, families, communities and countries. Countries with better job quality have higher rates of employment, lower rates of unemployment and higher levels of productivity and innovation. Unfortunately Australia has fallen behind the curve in terms of job quality-related policy and research and it needs to come up to speed rapidly. If Australia is to be a great country it must invest in creating quality jobs. The political will in Australia to improve job quality needs to be underpinned by improved understanding of job quality.


This book brings together Australia's leading researchers of job quality across a range of disciplines. Disciplines covered include law and industrial relations, economics, sociology, psychology, health science, and geography. These experts outline current problems with job quality policy and research in Australia, and their perspectives on and proposals for improving that policy and research. The outcome is a book that provides the foundation and impetus necessary for Australia to develop its own research and policy agendas around job quality.