This issues paper is a summary of some of the important trends worldwide in the organisation of work and how some international economic developments have affected the position of workers. The author examines some of the issues these trends raise for education and training and argues for government intervention in vocational education and training on economic and equity groups.
This report has investigated the impact of the increased trend towards casualisation and outsourcing of work on learning arrangements. It found that there has been an increase in highly task-specific or job-specific training. Moreover, labour hire companies tend to spend less on the training of their employees because they prefer to recruit people who already have the skills needed. This means that non-standard workers are largely responsible for accessing, organising and funding their own training.