WORK AND WORKERS

Work and Workers in Australia



Work and Workers in Australia

Introduction

Within more than two decades, the Australian economy changed beyond recognition. Once it was dominated by farms, mines and factories, and now it has been swapped by the economic transformation, growth of tourism, personalized service, and information technology. The employment growth in the industries deteriorated, whereas the job in restaurants, creative arts, finical and information sector has increased. This paper discusses the way employment and work is considered in the eyes of media. It addresses the employment issues and essential facts related to the employment industry in Australia.

Media Watch

Australian media is a significant component of the Australian economy. It is widely accessible and caters to a broad range of audience. About 99% of the household in Australia have televisions and have at least one radio. Whatever media displays and perceive is widely accepted by the common people. The infotainment and entertainment media besides, depicting different social and informational aspect has created perception and researches about the employment sector in the country (Lansbury, 2002).

According to The Australian, before the collapse of the financial deregulations, and trade barriers, and the rise of Internet, the job market in Australia shifted to the modern job fields. Before a decade, jobs were considered a result of one's quality education. Those who did not acquire good education may become tradesmen, public servants, or police officer. However today, this is not the case. The job market has shifted from one field to another irrespective of the previous job standards and stereotyping. While there was unemployment a decade ago as well, but the job security was present. Today, Jobs security is a last thing. Employers purge their ranks, and there is continuous pressure to contract the jobs to non staff. The traditional jobs like bank tellers disappeared due to the technological advances. There is no presence of career ladder, and people often keep switching jobs in search for better pay scale and job security. The contracts are given much priority than the permanent employees due to the cost implications for the companies. People typically rely on their employers to manage their work lives. This era is known as do it yourself, and about continues to gain different skills to remain in the job market (Lansbury, 2002).

The question is what meaning media gives to work and workers? A brief history of the meaning of work reveals that a wide range of names are given to work overtime ranging from low status in the ancient world were only the low class citizen including women, slaves and the labors worked. It extended to the labor markets and societies today. And work ethics came into the management practices. According to one of the media journalists, studs Terkel, the interviews that were conducted by the people about their work experience and behavior were interesting in finding about the current employment situation in Australia (Pocock, 2003). It was found that regardless of the social status, people take pride in ...