Contemporary Disability Employment Policy in Australia: How Can it Best Support Transitions from Welfare to Work?

By Lucy Macali

The 2005 welfare to work reforms focused particularly on people with a disability.

The transfer of Open Employment Services for people with a disability from the Dept of Family and Community Services (FCAS) to the Workforce Participation portfolio within the Dept of Employment and Workplace relations signaled significant changes. This paper examines current government policy initiatives and their possible implications and the interface between disability employment services and the Job Network. It concludes on the possible application of Transitional Labour Market policies as a means of increasing workforce participation rates for jobseekers with a disability and what that would require of government policy.

(Australian Bulletin of Labour; vol. 32, no. 3, 2006)