
Employment Services
CPD has a track record of research into the effectiveness of employment services. Our long-term interest in these matters is reflected in the reports Grand Alibis (December 2015) and Settling Better (February 2017), which was released with the support of the Boston Consulting Group, and a broader discussion paper on Australia’s democracy (December 2017). These issues also informed the creation of our multi-year Cities and Settlement Initiative, which focusses on helping refugees to find jobs faster.
Our 2018 submission to the Future of Employment Services Consultation build on our correspondence with Sandra McPhee AM, Chair of the Employment Services Expert Advisory Panel, and discussions with the Active Labour Market Assistance Branch in the Department of Jobs and Small Business. It also draws on discussions and analysis produced through our Cities and Settlement Initiative.
Latest Articles

Mariana Mazzucato delivered CPD’s John Menadue Oration | December 2018
Luisa Boll - February 2019
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CPD brings Professor Mariana Mazzucato to Australia | December 2018
Luisa Boll - February 2019
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Employment Services Report 2020 | Expert Advisory Panel | January 2019
communications - January 2019
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Council on Economic Participation for Refugees
Lisa Button - December 2018
On 22 February 2018, CPD convened the first meeting of the Council on Economic Participation for Refugees (the Council), hosted by the Boston Consulting Group in Melbourne. The Council is...
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Cities and Settlement Initiative
Travers McLeod - December 2018
Photo: The second meeting of the Council on Economic Participation for Refugees, in Fairfield NSW. In 2018 CPD launched our Cities and Settlement Initiative – a three-year program that aims...
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Big, impersonal and opaque: how Jobactive is failing jobseekers
communications - February 2018
ROB STURROCK published in Inside Story 1 FEBRUARY 2018 A new strategy would start by recognising that the market alone can’t help many jobless Australians find work What is government’s role? Labor frontbencher...
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What Do Australians Want? Active and Effective Government Fit for the Ages | DISCUSSION PAPER | December 2017
communications - December 2017
Today CPD releases its latest research – a new discussion paper called “What do Australian’s Want? Active and Effective Government Fit for the Ages.” This paper draws on new attitudes...
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Settling Better: Reforming refugee employment and settlement services | REPORT | February 2017
communications - February 2017
As a nation built on immigration, humanitarian migrants (refugees and others in refugee-like situations) make up only a small proportion of the entrants who settle in Australia. Over time, however,...
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Grand alibis: how declining public sector capability affects services for the disadvantaged | REPORT | December 2015
communications - December 2015
CPD has released a new report called Grand alibis: how declining public sector capability affects services for the disadvantaged. In the report, authors Kelly Farrow, Robert Sturrock and Sam Hurley argue...
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