Halting the decline of Australian manufacturing

A report from the Centre for Future Work has challenged the acceptance by many that decline in manufacturing is inevitable in high-wage countries such as Australia, citing international statistics which demonstrate that worldwide, manufacturing is growing, not shrinking — including in many advanced high-wage countries.

The study documents the accelerating decline of Australian manufacturing, which has seen manufacturing employment shrink to be smaller as a share of total employment in Australia than in any other advanced country.

However, public opinion research shows that Australians agree, by very large majorities, that manufacturing is crucial to the national economy, supports good jobs and high living standards and should be a national priority for policymakers. The report calls on government to engage in proactive, hands-on, innovative policy, detailing 10 key policy levers that have been invoked in other countries to support manufacturing.

The Centre for Future Work is an initiative housed within the Australia Institute to conduct and publish progressive economic research on work, employment and labour markets. The full report can be downloaded here.