Work-life 'balance' in Australia: Limited progress, dim prospects

This article considers work-life balance in Australia and sets out the accumulating case in support of it, including the business, social, political and personal cases. The article reviews progress over the past year in the context of labour-market changes in the most recent decade, then considers recent responses, and finally weighs prospects for the future. The author is not optimistic of change in the short term, though labour-market tightening may drive some positive, if patchy, change. The increasing voice and traction of workers with caring responsibilities may be a force for greater change in the medium term, but by most measures the Australian work-life regime remains hostile to care and imposes significant costs. While many of these costs are privately experienced or visited upon those with weak voice (like women, children, and aged dependants), their effects are far from inconsequential or lacking political traction.