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  4. Getting Welfare to Work
Faculty of Arts

Getting Welfare to Work: Research on Employment Services

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Housed at the University of Melbourne, in conjunction with the University of New South Wales and La Trobe University, Getting Welfare to Work is a long-standing research program on welfare and employment services reform at a national and international level.

About Getting Welfare to Work

Employment services policy and delivery is constantly in flux. The sector is persistently subject to design, redesign, regulation and re-regulation in Australia and elsewhere. It needs dedicated, independent, reliable research that can inform policy design and provide both government and providers with evidence of best practice.

Getting Welfare to Work began in 1998 with surveys of frontline staff working in the employment sector in Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Since 2008, in partnership with Jobs Australia, the National Employment Services Association (NESA), and Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG), we have continued to closely monitor reforms in Australia and internationally through what is now the world’s largest and longest running comparative study of employment services delivery.

We have collected more than 20 years of data on frontline practice and the impacts of welfare reforms on services delivery, across multiple countries. We have built on this core body of research over subsequent Australian Research Council Linkage projects with additional interview and case-study based research on:

  • Mission drift among not-for-profit organisations, as part of the Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery project (2011-15); and
  • The practices of high performing agencies in supporting more disadvantaged jobseekers into sustained employment, as part of the From Entitlement to Experiment project (2016-19)

Information on our current and past research projects is available at the Research Projects tab.

Future research will focus on the next wave of employment services reform – the digitalisation of social services delivery – and what this means for:

  • The nature of not-for-profit and contracted providers involvement in services delivery; levels of professionalisation and service tailoring at the frontline, and
  • Jobseekers’ access to and experience of employment support
cute kitten
View Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan speaking about digitalisation and the implications for social services

People

  • Research team
  • Completed PhD
  • Visiting scholars

Research team

Professor Mark Considine

Professor Mark Considine
Professor Mark Considine

Professor Mark Considine is Professor of Political Science and Provost of the University of Melbourne. He is one of Australia’s most respected political scientists, with a career spanning both academic research and applied policy work for government and civil society organisations. He and his collaborators have won numerous major international research prizes, including the Marshall Dimmock Award (2000) and the Jan Kooiman Award (2013), for their comparative work on the contracting of employment services and the governance of welfare-to-work program delivery.

Mark has been an advisor to the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Program, and has worked with state and federal governments in the design of social services and strategies for place-based innovation. He assisted the Brumby Government with its review of employment programs and was seconded by the Gillard Government to the departmental Working Group to review the jobactive Star Ratings system. He was later appointed to chair the federal Working Groups charged with developing a quality measure for rating job agencies.

Professor Jenny M. Lewis

Professor Jenny M. Lewis
Professor Jenny M. Lewis

Professor Jenny Lewis is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Melbourne, and was the Founding Director of the Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne. Jenny is the Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts, and is currently President of the International Research Society for Public Management.

The author of six books and more than 70 journal articles and book chapters, Jenny is one of Australia’s most respected experts on public policy, with a career spanning policy roles in state treasury departments, academic research, and applied policy work for government organisations. This has included consulting for the Department for Victorian Communities on approaches to evaluating community development partnerships, and assisting the National Public Health Partnership and VicHealth to develop strategic public health priorities.

Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan

Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan
Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan

Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of New South Wales and a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She specialises in the study of welfare states, especially their delivery of employment services and ‘mission drift’. Her recent research focuses on the delivery of contracted employment services. She also has an interest in animal welfare legislation, ethics and environmental matters.




Dr Michael McGann

Dr Michael McGann
Dr Michael McGann

Dr Michael McGann is Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI). He specialises in the sociology of work and social policy on employment, with a particular focus on issues related to welfare-to-work and the marketisation of public employment services as well as ageing and employment. His current research involves a study of the governance of activation in Ireland, looking at the impact of recent marketisation reforms on how public employment services are delivered.


Dr Phuc Nguyen

Dr Phuc Nguyen
Dr Phuc Nguyen

Dr Phuc Nguyen is a Lecturer in Management at La Trobe University. Her research interests include the welfare state, employment services delivery, and public services contracting. She also has an interest in supply chain integration and sustainability.

Completed PhD

Dr Wilma Gallet

Dr Wilma Gallet
Dr Wilma Gallet

Dr Wilma Gallet has a breadth of experience in the employment services sector spanning over 25 years including management and policy and program development roles within the public sector and the community sector. She was responsible for the establishment of The Salvation Army Employment Plus and as the founding CEO built this enterprise from a zero base to the largest community provider of employment services under the Government’s Job Network umbrella. She has a keen interest in the evolution of employment services and in particular how these services interact with other social service sectors such as the Homelessness Service Sector the Youth and Family Services Sector, Mental Health Services and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Service Sector to ensure that people with complex needs are effectively engaged and supported into meaningful and sustainable employment.

In 2010, she undertook a major project on behalf of the National Employment Services Australia (NESA) and Homelessness Australia focusing on developing strategies to assist Job Services Australia and Homelessness Providers to work more collaborative to provide integrated support services to homeless job seekers. In 2013, she was appointed to the Australian National Council on Drugs by the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and served a 2 year term.

Wilma completed her PhD in 2016 at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis entitled Christian mission or an unholy alliance?: The changing role of church-related organisations in welfare-to-work service delivery focused on the impact of the contracting environment on the mission, identity and behaviour of church-related organisations delivering government funded welfare to work programs in Australia.

Wilma has a continuing interest in investigating the marketisation of welfare services and in particular the effect that the increasingly competitive environment has on the not-for-profit sector. She has authored various reports and journal articles and is currently engaged in a number of research projects specifically examining current issues that impact churches and their agencies. Wilma is currently acting as a Commissioner for the National Youth Commission into Youth Employment and Transitions, an independent inquiry examining challenges faced by young jobseekers.

Dr Sue Olney

Dr Sue Olney
Dr Sue Olney

Dr Sue Olney completed her PhD, False Economy: New Public Management and the welfare-to-work market in Australia, in 2016.

Sue is a Research Fellow in the Public Service Research Group UNSW Canberra and an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Melbourne School of Government at the University of Melbourne. She has worked in state government, the not-for-profit sector and in graduate teaching and research at the University of Melbourne, and been part of numerous research teams, government inquiries, cross-government and cross-sector initiatives, committees and working groups examining governance, policy implementation and equity issues in employment, training and disability services in Australia. Sue is also co-director of the social policy discussion platform Power to Persuade and is on the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

Visiting scholars

2019

Niklas Andersen
Niklas Andersen

In 2019, the Entitlement to Experiment research project will host Niklas Andreas Andersen (University of Aalborg), and Associate Professor Jo Ingold (University of Leeds), for short visits and research collaborations.

Niklas Andersen

Niklas Andersen is a PhD Fellow at the University of Aalborg within its Centre for Labour Market Research, who is currently undertaking a research project on local innovation in social and employment services.

Associate Professor Jo Ingold
Associate Professor Jo Ingold

Associate Professor Jo Ingold

Associate Professor Jo Ingold conducts research that focuses on the overlap between public policy and human resource management, and has led research projects studying employer engagement in welfare-to-work programs in the UK and Denmark.

2018

Dr Sophie Danneris (University of Aalborg)

Dr Sophie Danneris
Dr Sophie Danneris Luthman

In 2018, the Entitlement to Experiment project hosted Dr Sophie Danneris Luthman for two months to conduct comparative work with the Employment Services research team.

Sophie holds a PhD in Sociology, and is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University, Denmark. Her areas of research are social and employment policies, labour market participation for hard-to-place unemployed as well as qualitative longitudinal studies, conversation analysis and practice research.

During her visit, Dr Danneris Luthman presented a public lecture on her research examining changes in the Danish approach to welfare income support for those out of work. While Denmark is widely perceived to have a more socialist welfare regime, changes in its approach over recent decades have mirrored similar developments in liberal welfare regime countries like the UK and Australia. This has been accompanied by a shift towards putting income welfare recipients into work placements and developing their work experience to transition them into employment. In her qualitative research focusing on the experience of the long-term, vulnerable unemployed, Dr Danneris Luthman shows how these large-scale ideologies play out and are negotiated locally in meetings between the recipients and the government case managers. This research provides novel insights into the experiences of the hard-to-place long term unemployed and illustrates the difficulties and frustrations they experience with the system. It sheds light on how benefits and services are received and administered as well as on what is received.

Dr Sharon Wright (University of Glasgow)

Dr Sharon Wright
Dr Sharon Wright

Dr Sharon Wright is an international expert in welfare reform, specialising in the marketisation of employment services. Her research focuses on the lived experience of welfare policy recipients and front-line workers, and considers the agency of welfare subjects in networks of welfare governance. She is an expert Adviser to the Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee, and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow.

The Entitlement to Experiment research project hosted Dr Wright for two weeks in 2018. During this time, she gave a keynote address at the Jobs Australia National Conference on conditionality in welfare policy, and participated in a workshop comparing implementations of conditionality in welfare-to-work policies across Australia and the U.K., jointly hosted by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the University of Melbourne.

Research projects

  • Entitlement to Experiment (2016-2019)
  • Increasing Innovation and Flexibility (2011-2015)
  • Activating States (2008-2012)

Entitlement to Experiment: The New Governance of Welfare-to-Work (2016-2019)

This major research project investigates the important organisational dynamics that are generating major changes to contemporary welfare states.

The first of these changes is the shift towards governance driven by performance; a world of metadata matched by a new economy of incentives. The second is experimentation, new markets and the problematic way changes ‘from above’ seek to stimulate real service delivery change at street level. This increasingly involves international agencies and global knowledge transfer.

The research project aims to model and explain these dynamics using a multidimensional framework and a mix of surveys and field visits, to assist agencies wishing to innovate in order to help those most in need.

Publications associated with this project

Infographic on jobseeker streaming and assessment

Infographic on Can a public services market change: flexibility at the frontline?

Industry reports

  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2018), From Entitlement to Experiment: Industry report on case studies of high providing providers, The University of Melbourne. View Infographic on jobseeker streaming and assessment (140kb pdf)
  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2017), From Entitlement to Experiment: The new governance of welfare to work - UK Report back to Industry Partners, The University of Melbourne
  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2016), From Entitlement to Experiment: The new governance of welfare to work - Australian Report back to Industry Partners, The University of Melbourne

Publications

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2020), “Contracting personalization by results: comparing marketization reforms in Australia and the UK”, in Public Administration: An International Quarterly. Wiley, March 2020
  • McGann, M., Danneris, S., and O’Sullivan, S. (2019), “Introduction: Rethinking welfare-to-work for the long-term unemployed,” accepted for publication in Social Policy & Society
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2019), “Locked-in or locked-out: Can a public services market really change?” (280kb pdf) in Journal of Social Policy, pp. 1-22
  • McGann, M., Nguyen, P. and Considine, M. (2019), “Welfare Conditionality and Blaming the Unemployed,” (460kb pdf) in Administration and Society
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Considine, M. (2019), “The Category Game and its Impact on Street Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study,” (360kb pdf) in Social Policy & Society. View Infographic on jobseeker streaming and assessment (140kb pdf)
  • Considine, M., Nguyen, P. and O’Sullivan, S. (2018), “New Public Management and the Rule of Economic Incentives: Australian Welfare-to-Work from Job Market Signalling Perspective,” in Public Management Review, 20(8), pp. 1186-1204
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2018), “The Policy-maker’s Dilemma: The Risks and Benefits of a ‘Black Box’ Approach to Commissioning Active Labour Market Programs,” in Social Policy and Administration, 52(1), pp. 229-52

Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery (2011-2015)

This project explored how tax-funded social services are delivered by non-government agencies in Australia.

As part of the project, investigators developed a new model of the way regulation and innovation interact in public-private partnerships within social policy, including how such partnerships create ‘mission drift’ for both the policy programs and the agencies contracted to deliver social services.

By comparing the Australian case with other welfare systems using similar policy instruments and delivery mechanisms, this project has assisted agencies and government regulators to better understand how service delivery innovation can be achieved without excessive gaming and opportunism by private agencies or the loss of their distinctive missions.

Publications associated with this project

Industry reports

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F. (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: A Comparison of the Australian and UK 2012 Frontline Employment Services Survey Results, The University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F. (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: UK Report back to Industry Partners, The University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F. (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: Australian Report back to Industry Partners (1.2Mb pdf), The University of Melbourne

Academic publications

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “New public management and welfare-to-work in Australia: Comparing the reform agendas of the ALP and the Coalition,” in Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(3), pp. 469-485
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “Mission-drift? The Third Sector and the pressure to be business-like: Evidence from Job Services Australia,” in Third Sector Review, 20(1), pp. 87-107
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “Governance, Boards of Directors and the Impact of Contracting on Not-for-profit (NFP) Organisations: an Australian study,” in Social Policy and Administration, 48 (2), pp. 169-187
  • Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2014), “Introduction: Markets and the New Welfare - Buying and Selling the Poor,” in Social Policy and Administration, 48 (2), pp. 119-126
  • Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2012), “Les réformes de l’activation des aides aux chômeurs en Australie” (The Reform of Active Labour Market Policy in Australia), in Informations Sociales
  • Considine, M. and Lewis, J.M. (2012) “Networks and interactivity: making sense of front line governance in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia,” in Public Management Review, 14(1), pp. 1-22

Activating States (2008-2012)

Using benchmark data collected in 1998, the Activating States project investigated whether and how the so-called ‘activation’ of welfare clients has changed the frontline delivery of welfare-to-work services.

Since the 1980s, the presentation and delivery of welfare-to-work services has been transformed by structural and ideological pressures, resulting in increasingly market-driven and target-oriented approaches to service provision. This project compared and contrasted approaches to welfare-to-work service delivery adopted by Australia, the UK and the Netherlands since 1998. During this period, each of these countries adopted policies aimed at ‘activating’ welfare recipients: empowering them to develop job-ready skills, and to lessen their dependence on welfare assistance. The delivery of these policies was typically outsourced to third-party agencies, a significant change from traditional methods of welfare-to-work program design.

This analysis has provided a means to assess the components of the new target and market-driven systems in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands, and to compare the different tools used by each state for managing both clients and frontline staff.

Publications associated with this project

Industry reports

  • Considine, M,, Lewis, J.M. and O’Sullivan, S. 2009, Activating States: transforming the delivery of ‘welfare to work’ services in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands – UK report back to Industry Partners (325kb pdf), The University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M,, Lewis, J.M. and O’Sullivan, S. 2008, Activating States: transforming the delivery of ‘welfare to work’ services in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands – Australian report back to Industry Partners (330kb pdf), The University of Melbourne

Academic publications

  • Considine, M. and Lewis, J.M. 2010, “Front-line work in employment services after ten years of New Public Management reform: Governance and activation in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK,” in European Journal of Social Security, 12(4), pp. 357-370
  • Considine, M., Lewis, J. M., and O’Sullivan, S. 2009, “Activating States: transforming the delivery of ‘welfare-to-work’ services in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands,” in Working Brief (Journal of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion), May, pp. 16-18

Publications and presentations

  • Industry reports and surveys
  • Books, book chapters and journal articles
  • Presentations to policy makers
  • Conference presentations
  • Infographics

Industry reports and surveys

Each ARC linkage grant has produced a series of Industry Reports, written to brief our Industry Partners on the Research Team’s findings. For more information on our Industry Partners please see the Industry partners tab (above).

Entitlement to Experiment: The New Governance of Welfare-to-Work

  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2018), From Entitlement to Experiment: Industry report on case studies of high providing providers (1.1Mb pdf), the University of Melbourne
  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2017), From Entitlement to Experiment: The new governance of welfare to work – UK Report back to Industry Partners (585kb pdf), the University of Melbourne
  • Lewis, J.M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2016), From Entitlement to Experiment: The new governance of welfare to work – Australian Report back to Industry Partners (680kb pdf), the University of Melbourne

Employment Services, Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: A Comparison of the Australian and UK 2012 Frontline Employment Services Survey Results (1.1Mb pdf), the University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: UK Report back to Industry Partners (1.1Mb pdf), the University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Toso, F (2013), Increasing Innovation and Flexibility in Social Service Delivery: Australian Report back to Industry Partners (1.2Mb pdf), the University of Melbourne

Employment Services, Activating States

  • Considine, M., Lewis, J.M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2009), Activating States: transforming the delivery of ‘welfare to work’ services in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands – UK report back to Industry Partners (325kb pdf), the University of Melbourne
  • Considine, M., Lewis, J.M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2008), Activating States: transforming the delivery of ‘welfare to work’ services in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands – Australian report back to Industry Partners (330kb pdf), the University of Melbourne

Books, book chapters and journal articles

Books

Getting Welfare to Work: Street-Level Governance in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands

Considine, M., Lewis, J., O'Sullivan, S. and Sol, E. (2015), Getting Welfare to Work: Street-Level Governance in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Getting Welfare to Work traces the radical reform of the Australian, UK, and Dutch public employment services systems. Starting with major changes from 1998, this book examines how each national system has moved from traditional public services towards more privately provided and market-based methods.

Contracting-out Welfare Services: Comparing National Policy Designs for Unemployment Assistance

Considine, M. and O'Sullivan, S., (eds.) (2015), Contracting-out Welfare Services: Comparing National Policy Designs for Unemployment Assistance, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell

Contracting-out Welfare Services focuses on the design and overhaul of welfare-to-work systems around the world in the light of the radical re-design of the welfare system; internationally based authors utilise a national/program case study, considering employment services policy and activation practices.

Book chapters

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2015), “Governance, Boards of Directors and the Impact of Contracting on Not-for-profit (NFP) Organisations: an Australian study,” in Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (eds.,) Contracting-out Welfare Services: Comparing National Policy Designs for Unemployment Assistance, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 55-74

Journal articles

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2020), “Contracting personalization by results: comparing marketization reforms in Australia and the UK”, in Public Administration: An International Quarterly. Wiley, March 2020
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2019), “Locked-in or locked-out: Can a public services market really change?” (280kb pdf) in Journal of Social Policy, pp. 1-22. Please see infographic on ‘Can a public services market change: flexibility at the frontline?’
  • McGann, M., Danneris, S., and O’Sullivan, S. (2019), “Introduction: Rethinking welfare-to-work for the long-term unemployed," accepted for publication in Social Policy & Society
  • McGann, M., Nguyen, P. and Considine, M. (2019), “Welfare Conditionality and Blaming the Unemployed,” (460kb pdf) in Administration and Society
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Considine, M. (2019), “The Category Game and its Impact on Street Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study," (360kb pdf) in Social Policy & Society. Please see infographic on ‘Streaming and Assessment’
  • Considine, M., Nguyen, P., and O’Sullivan, S. (2018), “New Public Management and the Rule of Economic Incentives: Australian Welfare-to-Work from Job Market Signalling Perspective,” in Public Management Review, 20(8), pp. 1186-1204
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2018), “The Policy-maker’s Dilemma: The Risks and Benefits of a ‘Black Box’ Approach to Commissioning Active Labour Market Programs,” in Social Policy and Administration, 52(1), pp. 229-52
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “New public management and welfare-to-work in Australia: Comparing the reform agendas of the ALP and the Coalition,” in Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(3), pp. 469-485
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “Mission-drift? The Third Sector and the pressure to be business-like: Evidence from Job Services Australia,” in Third Sector Review, 20(1), pp. 87-107
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “Governance, Boards of Directors and the Impact of Contracting on Not-for-profit (NFP) Organisations: an Australian study,” in Social Policy and Administration, 48 (2), pp. 169-187
  • Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2014), “Introduction: Markets and the New Welfare - Buying and Selling the Poor,” in Social Policy and Administration, 48 (2), pp. 119-126

Journal articles 2012-2009

Other engagement

  • Considine, M., McGann, M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and Lewis, J.M. (2018) Improving Outcomes for Disadvantaged Jobseekers: The Next Generation of Employment Services (1.9Mb pdf) The Policy Lab, The University of Melbourne

Presentations to policy makers

2019

  • Lewis, J.M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2019), “Reform challenges and opportunities in the Australian employment services system,” Presentation to the Department of Jobs and Small Business, Canberra, 8 May 2019
  • Lewis, J.M. (2019), “Barriers to Entry, Exit, and a Level Playing Field,” Presentation to OECD Workshop on Competition in Publicly Funded Markets, Paris, 27 February 2019

2018

  • O’Sullivan, S. (2018), “Welfare reform and marketisation in Australia and the UK: a longitudinal study,” Presentation to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Sheffield Office
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M., Lewis, J.M. and Nguyen, P. (2018), “From entitlement to experiment: case studies of high-performing job active providers,” Workshop with the Department of Jobs and Small Business, Canberra, 7 June

2017

  • Considine, M., Lewis, J.M., O’Sullivan, S., Nguyen, P. and McGann, M. (2017), “Reforming welfare to work – A long standing research collaboration on employment services reform,” Presentation to Department of Employment, Canberra, 29 November 2017
  • Lewis, J.M., O’Sullivan, S., and McGann, M. (2017), “Reforming welfare to work – A long standing research collaboration on employment services reform," Presentation to Department of Employment, Canberra, 5 May 2017

2016

  • Considine, M., Lewis, J.M. and Nguyen, P. (2016), “Getting welfare to work,” Presentation to Department of Employment staff, Canberra, February 2016

Conference presentations

2019

  • O’Sullivan, S., Considine, M., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2019), “Locked-in or locked-out: Can a public services market really change?” Bureaucracies Under Stress? Western and Chinese Public Administration in an Era of Anti-Politics, University of Melbourne, 28-29 September 2019
  • O’Sullivan, S., Considine, M., McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2019), “Contracting personalization by results: comparing marketisation reforms in Australia and the UK,” Australian Political Studies Association Conference, Flinders University, Adelaide, 22-25 September 2019
  • Nguyen, P., Lewis, J. and Considine, M. (2019), “What factors encourage jobseekers to find a job or move off benefits? Modelling street level bureaucracy,” Australian Political Studies Association Conference, Flinders University, Adelaide, 22-25 September 2019
  • McGann, M., Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2019), “Locked-in or locked-out: Can a public services market really change?” Australian Social Policy Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 9-11 September 2019
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Considine, M. (2019), “The Category Game and its impact on Street-Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study,” Australian Social Policy Conference, University of New South Wales, 9-11 September 2019
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and McGann, M. (2019), “Supporting harder-to-help jobseekers and the future of employment services,” National Employment Services Association (NESA) Conference, 12 August 2019
  • McGann, M. (2019) “International experiences in Public Employment Services,” Keynote presentation, Leave no one behind conference, Maynooth University, Ireland, 17 June 2019
  • Considine, M. “Reflections on the field of street-level bureaucracy research," Invited plenary presentation, 3rd Street Level Bureaucracy Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark. 12 June 2019
  • McGann, M., Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2019), “The Category Game and its impact on Street-Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study,” 3rd Street Level Bureaucracy Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark. 11 June 2019
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M. and Considine, M. (2019), “The Category Game and its impact on Street-Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study,” International Research Society for Public Management Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 16-18 April 2019
  • Nguyen, P., Considine, M. and Lewis, J. (2019) “Does NPM change ‘street level’ service delivery? Comparing public employment services in Australia & the UK over time,” International Research Society for Public Management Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 16-18 April 2019

2018

  • McGann, M. (2018) "Welfare conditionality in Australia,” Jobs Australia National Conference, Melbourne, 3-5 October 2018
  • Considine, M. (2018) “Trends in contracting and marketisation,” Jobs Australia National Conference, Melbourne, 3-5 October 2018
  • O’Sullivan, S., McGann, M., and Considine, M. (2018) “The Category Game and its impact on Street-Level Bureaucrats and Jobseekers: An Australian Case Study.” University of Leeds, 19 September 2018
  • McGann, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2018) “Welfare reform and the marketisation at the frontline in Australia and the UK: a comparative perspective,” World Congress of International Political Science Association, Brisbane, 21-26 July 2018
  • McGann, M., Nguyen, P. and Considine, M. (2018) “Welfare conditionality and blaming the unemployed,” Welfare Conditionality Conference, University of York, 26-28 June 2018

2017

  • McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2017) “A New Blueprint: Towards 2020,” Jobs Australia National Conference, Hobart, 2 November 2017
  • McGann, M., Nguyen, P. and Considine, M. (2017) “Welfare conditionality and blaming the unemployed: Is there a correlation?,” Australian Social Policy Association Conference, UNSW, 26-28 September 2017
  • Nguyen, P., Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2017), “Better welfare-to-work contracting-out practices? Evidence from Job Services Australia (2009-2015),” Democracy and Populism: A new age of extremes? (APSA), Melbourne 24-27 Sep 2017
  • Nguyen, P., Considine, M. and O’Sullivan, S. (2017), “New Public Management and the Rule of Economic Incentives: Australian Welfare-to-Work from Job Market Signalling Perspective,” Forging the Future... through inclusive employment Services (NESA), Melbourne 22-23 August 2017
  • McGann, M. (2017) “Frontline perspectives from the UK and Australia: What’s Changing?,” National Employment Services Association Annual Conference, Melbourne, 23 August 2017

2016

  • O’Sullivan, S. (2016) “Getting Welfare to Work: 20 years of Employment Services Privatisation in Australia” seminar at the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, November 2016
  • O’Sullivan, S. and McGann, M. (2016) “What the frontline research tells us about employment services" presentation at the Jobs Australia National conference, October 2016
  • McGann, M. and Nguyen, P. (2016) “Ageing and activation: demographic shift at the frontline of Australian welfare-to-work,” Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Sydney, September 2016
  • O’Sullivan, S. (2016) “International Best Practice in Employability: global view of 2016 and beyond,” IntoWork Convention, Birmingham, UK, July 2016
  • Lewis, JM. (2016) “How welfare reform affects frontline staff – Early results from 2016 Australian employment services survey,” NESA annual conference, Melbourne, August 2016

2015

  • Lewis, JM, Nguyen, P, O’Sullivan, S. and Considine, M. (2015) “Star ratings and provider performance: The Australian experience,” CESI convention, London, 14-15 July 2015

2014

  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “Work Program and the Black Box,” Politics and Policy, Bristol, UK
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “New Public Management and Information Asymmetries: An Australian employment services case study,” International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM), Carleton University, Ottawa
  • Considine, M., O’Sullivan, S. and Nguyen, P. (2014), “The left and right of Australian employment services policy: a comparison of Job Network and Job Services Australia,” Public Policy Network Conference, University of Canberra

Conference presentations 2013-2009

Infographics

Publications associated with the Entitlement to Experiment project

  • Infographic on ‘Jobseeker streaming and assessment’ (140kb pdf)
  • Infographic on ‘Can a public services market change: flexibility at the frontline?’ (195kb pdf)

Since 2008, the Employment Services Research Team has worked in partnership with the National Employment Services Association (NESA), Jobs Australia and the Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG). These partnerships have supported research across three linkage grants, detailed in the Research Projects tab (above), and have enabled two-way knowledge transfer between the Research Team and frontline welfare-to-work staff.

National Employment Services Association

NESA logo
NESA logo

NESA is the peak advocacy body representing Australian employment services providers. It acts as a bridge between the Employment Services sector and government, providing advocacy, professional development activities and practitioner advice to private sector employment services providers, as well as hosting conferences and offering policy advice to government.

National Employment Services Association website

Jobs Australia

Jobs Australia logo
Jobs Australia logo

Jobs Australia is an independent national body representing not-for-profit and community-based employment services providers. It particularly focuses on supporting service providers delivering employment assistance to disadvantaged communities, with members ranging from local community agencies to large national charities. It offers assistance to service providers including insurance, advocacy, workplace relations advice and legal representation.

Jobs Australia website

Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG)

WCIG logo
WCIG logo

“WCIG is a community based not-for-profit organisation committed to improving lives through practical responses to unemployment and disadvantage. Our programs focus on assisting people make positive changes in their lives.

We deliver employment, disability, youth and training programs, as well as operating several social enterprises. WCIG has an established network of community organisations, allied health services, employers, community groups and other businesses. Our network enables us to provide the most holistic approach possible to assist people to reach their goals.”

Westgate Community Initiatives Group website


Contact us

For more information on Getting Welfare to Work, or if you would like to be involved with out research, please contact:

Professor Jenny Lewis
Email:
jmlewis@unimelb.edu.au

Location: Room W636, West Tower, John Medley (Building 191)

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