Articles

Has there been a more divisive workplace debate in recent years than the one over working from home?

It's been five years since the National Agreement on Closing the Gap was signed in 2020. In 2025, it's easy to forget why this Agreement is so important and why it is fundamentally different from policy approaches of the past.

Our school achievement statistics make for grim reading. The latest NAPLAN results show that, despite some improvements in Victoria, outcomes have not meaningfully improved for many years. Today one in three students are not meeting expectations in litera

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. For all that’s new about AI, the challenges and opportunities it presents are akin to those we’ve faced in the technological shifts of the past.

Throughout our history, rising capital per worker – what is known as capital deepening – has driven Australia’s productivity growth.

The Oxford dictionary has announced its new words for 2025, which includes the very Australian ‘goon bag’. But if you follow Australian politics, it’s a different word that’s been front and centre of late: productivity.

The modelling the Productivity Commission has released today indicates that in the long run, the direct overall impacts of US tariffs on our economy are likely to be small and positive, despite their negative impacts on the global economy.

The review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement finds it has not delivered on its ambition to strengthen collaboration and improve outcomes for people with lived and living experience of mental ill health and suicide.

It is no secret that Australia is in the midst some of its worst labour productivity growth on record. But why has labour productivity growth been so poor?

Tariffs are a harmful form of tax, hurting the country that imposes them and the countries they are imposed upon, write Danielle Wood and Alex Robson.

Recent PC Quarterly productivity bulletins have highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic productivity bubble has now deflated.

A year on from its release, the report remains an important resource for public sector employees and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and peoples around the country.

On a recent visit to New Zealand, Commissioner Selwyn Button was inspired by Te Arawhiti, the Māori name for the Office of Māori Crown Relations.

Australia’s headline labour productivity has stagnated since the COVID-19 pandemic. And our productivity performance looks even worse compared to the United States (US), where productivity has surged ahead.

Our recommended sequence of steps to universal ECEC is as important as the steps themselves, write Danielle Wood and Martin Stokie.

A recent PC report on early childhood education and care (ECEC) strikes a good balance between centring the child and recognising the role of ECEC in supporting parents' workforce participation, writes Associate Commissioner Deborah Brennan.

Economic reform is never easy but is essential to generating long-term improvements in our living standards, write Danielle Wood and Alex Robson.

Tackling the threat of climate change is “mission critical” for Australia. Our economic performance and living standards depend on how well we respond to this challenge today, and over the coming years.

Last year, I attended a tour of the Victorian Tunnelling Centre at Holmesglen TAFE. It wasn’t just impressive technology that I got to experience, but also how that technology could be shared.

As a specialist in competition and consumer protection, I have formed the view that calls for new AI-specific regulations are largely misguided, writes Commissioner Stephen King.

Do your parents’ economic fortunes dictate your own? If your parents earned decent money when you were a kid, does that mean you’ll do well too? And if you grew up poor, can you break free from poverty to become well-off as an adult?

Our report finds 67% of the so-called “Xennial” generation – those born in 1976–1982, on the cusp of the Millennial/Gen X divide – earn more than their parents did at a similar age.

Diversion is far more successful in stopping child crime than charging or imprisoning a child, write Commissioners Natalie Siegel-Brown and Selwyn Button.

Economists have lost some of their power to influence public debate, but we can fix it, writes Chair Danielle Wood.

The 2020s have seen industry policy come back into fashion across much of the Western world. And like all return fashions, it comes with a spin on the original.

There is not a whole lot to hold governments accountable for doing what they promised under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The data the Productivity Commission releases each year is considered by many the proof in the pudding of…

New research from the Productivity Commission shows that, at least when it comes to healthcare, the way we measure productivity might not be telling the full story.

If a country used only half its factories it would waste a lot of its productive potential. The same is true if we tap into only half of society’s brainpower.

The 2022-23 financial year saw a lot of big firsts for the Australian economy – some good and others not so good.

Artificial Intelligence technologies (AI) could significantly increase Australia’s productivity and drive economic wellbeing. But to gain these benefits, we need the right approach to regulation.

Readers will know that the Closing the Gap agenda is not new. In fact, it has been around for over 15 years. And many of you would know that while there have been some improvements - for the most part, they have been small.

While most policymakers recognise that our tax system would benefit from reform, our first priority should be to stop making it worse.

Another national accounts release, another lacklustre annual productivity statistic - but with a glimmer of hope.

Tax reform conversations can sometimes seem somewhat abstract. But tax policy can have very real and immediate impacts on our lives. Nowhere is the human impact of tax policy more evident than in our deductible gift recipient system.

While the picture has improved in recent years, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is still out of reach for many Australian families.

We are pleased to announce that Chris Guest has joined the Productivity Commission as an Associate Commissioner with the Murray Darling Basin Plan: Implementation Review.

Four years ago, Australian governments signed the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA), with the aim of improving access to affordable housing. Today, by most measures, the situation is no better than it was in 2018.

Australia is in the middle of a digital and data revolution. The Productivity Commission’s second interim report for our five-year productivity inquiry looks at how these new technologies can grow our economy.

A draft report focuses on ways to address fake 'Indigenous-style' art and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and art centres.

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, we have become more familiar with our homes. They are essential to our lives: where we rest, care for our family, entertain friends and, increasingly, work. But not everyone has a home that is safe and affordable.

COVID has affected many things. One that is less talked about is public transport. Google mobility data shows that when COVID hit Australia in early 2020, trips on public transport fell by as much as 70 per cent in large states and by more in…

In Australia, and around the world, there are growing concerns that repairs of consumer products are becoming ever more difficult and impractical to undertake or access. These products include everything from smart phones through to washing…

If an alien came to Earth, what would they make of the daily commute? Millions of people getting up each day, going from one building to another in the morning, then doing the opposite at night.

The past 40 years has seen a steady rise in the level of imprisonment in Australia and the imprisonment rate is at the highest level in a century. How do we explain this?

Productivity Commission research shows a lending market being transformed, as demand for unsecured credit prompts a raft of new providers and products. Innovative lenders with new business models are using technology and data to identify…

The stress test created by Beijing’s 2020 tariffs and bans reveals significant facts about the make-up and nature of Australia’s foreign trade.

Creating a culture of innovation and sharing best practice throughout our health system will benefit the growing number of Australians living with chronic health conditions.

Our major cities are facing considerable water challenges in the future. Significant population growth will increase demand for services whilst climate change is likely to reduce water availability in most areas.

Right now the government caps university places. But until 2017 universities could accept as many students as they liked and the government provided funding for all of these places. It was called the ‘demand driven system’ and it started in…