Decent Care for Decent Work: Policy Implications for Australia’s Pacific Labour Scheme

My project analyses the social and economic implications of Australia’s new Pacific Labour Scheme, using innovative mixed-methods research to examine changing patterns of work and care activities within migrant households and to identify challenges arising from the absence of migrant workers. Findings will inform gender-inclusive social policy principles that support ‘decent work’ and ‘decent care’ outcomes for Pacific Island Countries, thereby extending the International Labour Organisation’s ‘decent work agenda’ by foregrounding the importance of recognising and redistributing women’s unpaid care work. The research will deliver evidence-based inputs for labour migration policymaking and a methodological handbook for conducting smartphone-delivered time-use surveys.