Creating a culture of full employment conference next week

Friday 2 December 2005

An international conference, entitled Creating a Culture of Full Employment, begins at the University of Newcastle next Thursday 8 December 2005.

Hosted by the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle, the conference features presentations by a range of policy-makers, service providers and social activists from across Australia and around the world.

Director of CofFEE, Professor Bill Mitchell, says that the aim of the conference is to develop approaches which will help our communities develop the necessary cultural shifts that will compel policy-makers to move our economy back to full employment.

"There is a lot of interest in the welfare-to-work reforms now entering Parliament and of-course the labour market implications of the proposed IR changes," says Professor Mitchell.

Keynote addresses on the first day include Daniel Kostzer, the Director of Macroeconomic Research and Coordination at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security in Argentina, who will outline their Head of Households Job Guarantee approach to solving their nation's unemployment crisis and the role it has played in restoring economic stability.

Current developments in welfare to work and regional unemployment policy will be highlighted by David Thompson, CEO of Jobs Australia, the peak body representing not-for-profit Job Network providers.

In the concluding feature address for the first day, Dr Dimitri Papadimitriou, President of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and Jerome Levy Professor of Economics at Bard College, will discuss the "Levy forecast" using the Godley model of the USA economy.

The conference runs from 8-9 December 2005.

For media interviews: CofFEE Director, Professor Bill Mitchell, on (02) 4921 5027.