The Social Policy Research Services (SPRS) Contract

The Social Policy Research contract was originally a five-year contract with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to undertake a range of projects investigating labour market and social policy issues. Commenced in 2005, it follows a similar four-year contract with the Department of Family and Community Services which concluded in 2004. The SPRS Contract was extended in 2010 and again in 2012 for an additional two years until the end of 2014. Below is a list of projects undertaken or commenced under these research contracts.

For a quick overview of research under the 2005-2009 and 2010 SPRS contract, a set of information sheets has been produced and can be found here.

Projects commenced under the current contract (2010-2014)

Projects commenced in 2014

• 1/14 Investigating the Feasibility of Building an Add-On Component for the CAPITA Model to Analyse the Impact on Labour Supply of Income Support Policies Project Description

Projects commenced in 2013

• 1/13 Income Support and In-payment Incentives to Work Final Report
• 2/13 Outcomes of Jobs Education Training (JET) Child Care fee assistance recipients Final Report
• 3/13 Labour Force Potential of Disability Support Pension Recipients Final Report
• 4/13 Children's Participation in Early Childhood Education and Care and their Developmental Outcomes by Grade 5: A Comparison between Disadvantaged and Advantaged Children Final Report

Projects commenced in 2012

• 1/12 Graduate Employment Outcomes for International Students Final Report
• 2/12 Early Impacts on Course Choice and Completion of Moving to Student Demand-driven VET in Victoria Final Report
• 3/12 The Outcomes of Early School Leaving for Disadvantaged Students: The Role of Non-cognitive Skills Final Report
• 4/12 Outcomes for Teenage Mothers in the First Years after Birth Final Report
• 5/12 Update of the Synthesis of Melbourne Institute Research under the SPRS Contract 2005-2009 with 2010 Projects Synthesis
• 6/12 The Labour Force Participation and Income Support Duration of People with Disability with Partial Capacity to Work Final Report

Projects commenced in 2011

• 1/11 The Effects of Schools in Retaining Disadvantaged Youth in Education Final Report
• 2/11 The Role of VET-in-schools in School Completion and Post-school Outcomes Final Report
• 3/11 Synthesis of Melbourne Institute Research under the SPRS Contract 2005-2009 Information Sheets
• 4/11 Decomposing Differences in Labour Force Status between Indigenous Australians and the General Population Final Report
• 5/11 Longitudinal Analysis of Employment Outcomes for Vulnerable and Other Migrants Final Report
• 6/11 How does "Poor" Middle-years Experience Impact on Youth Outcomes? Final Report

Projects commenced in 2010

• 1/10 The Effects of Childcare on Child Development Final Report
• 2/10 Second Chance Education: Re-Engagement in Education of Early School Leavers Final Report and Melbourne Institute Working Paper
• 3/10 Activation and Welfare Dependency Final Report
• 4/10 Employment Retention in an Economic Downturn Final Report
• 5/10 Dynamics of Future Mature Age Workforce Participation Final Report

Projects commenced under the 2005-2009 contract

Projects commenced in 2009

• 1/09 Transitions of Income Support Recipients with Incapacity Exemptions Final Report
• 2/09 Impact of Education and Training on Income Support Recipients Final Report
• 3/09 Successful and Unsuccessful Pathways to Employment Final Report
• 4/09 The Re-engagement in Education of Early School Leavers Final Report

Projects commenced in 2008

• 1/08 The education and employment outcomes of youth in school-to-work transition Final Report
• 2/08 Wage transitions of apprentices Final Report
• 3/08 Location economics of income support recipients - extension project Final Report
• 4/08 Combining income support and earnings Final Report
• 5/08 Mental health of the Australian working population Final Report
• 6/08 Experience of income support recipients with a mental illness Final Report
• 7/08 Dynamics of household joblessness in Australia 2001-2006 Final Report

Projects commenced in 2007

• 1/07 Incidence of work related injury and illness and outcomes for specific groups of workers Final Report
• 2/07 Intergenerational correlation of labour market outcomes Final Report
• 3/07 The factors that influence wage progression Final Report
• 4/07 Wage transitions of apprentices (Project Deferred to 2008)
• 5/07 What determines how long women spend out of the labour force after the birth of a child Final Report
• 6/07 Full time work and sole parents Final Report
• 7/07 Teenage mothers' income support, education and paid work Final Report
• 8/07 Human Capital and the Patterns of Employment and Welfare Receipt Final Report
• 9/07 Pathways to higher pay Final Report

Projects commenced in 2006

• 1/06 Use of informal childcare and decisions on work by income support recipients Final Report
• 2/06 Stepping stones - do low paid jobs lead to increased earnings and lower welfare dependency over time? Final Report
• 3/06 Disability and employment in the Australian labour market Final Report
• 4/06 Mature age employment and workplace strategy Final Report
• 5/06 Location economics of income support recipients Final Report
• 6/06 Skill shortages and the absence of wage pressures Final Report
• 7/06 Working credits - a low cost alternative to universal income tax credits? Final Report
• 8/06 Link between changes in employment and changes in income support Final Report

Projects commenced in 2005

• 1/05 Income support reliance in Australia Final Report
• 2/05 Previous income support experience of people granted DSP Final Report
• 3/05 An examination of welfare transitions using the first three waves of the HILDA Survey Final Report
• 4/05 The dynamics of jobless households: using waves 1-3 to assess causes and consequences of persistent joblessness Final Report
• 5/05 Labour force outcomes for the mature age population Final Report
• 6/05 Synthesis of Melbourne Institute research Final Report
• 7/05 The dynamics of income support receipt among 'new' income support customers Final Report
• 8/05 Income support spells initiated by unemployment: Commonalities and heterogeneities across population groups in duration and determination of duration Final Report
• 9/05 Transitions from casual employment in Australia Final Report

Projects completed under the 2001-2004 contract

• 1. Reliance on income support in Australia - Final Report
• 2. Effect of changes to activity test arrangements on exit from payments - A: Mutual Obligation - Working Paper
• 3. Effect of changes to activity test arrangements on exit from payments - B: Intensive Review - Final Report, Working Paper
• 4. Movements between benefit types - Final Report, Working Paper
• 5. The impact of social policy initiatives on labour supply incentives: A review of the literature - Report, Working Paper
• 6. Effect of changes to activity test arrangements on exit from payments - D: Work for the Dole - Final Report, Working Paper
• 7. Effect of changes to activity test arrangements on exit from payments - C: Job Seeker Diary - Final Report, Working Paper
• 8. Economic Analyses of Families: Existing Research Findings - Final Report, Working Paper
• 9. Economic and sociolgical analyses of communities: Existing research findings - Final Report, Working Paper
• 10. Effect of family structure on life satisfaction: Australian evidence - Final Report, Working Paper
• 11. Neighbourhood and family effects on employment - Final Report
• 12. Attitudes to provision for old age - Final Report, Working Paper
• 13. Work and family directions in the US and Australia: A policy research agenda - Final Report, Working Paper
• 14. Understanding and improving data quality relating to low income households - Final Report
• 15. The Economics of Marriage and Divorce
• 16. Effects of the new tax system: A policy simulation using the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator - Final Report, Working Paper
• 16a. Estimation of Wage Equations in Australia: Allowing for censored observation of labour supply - Final Report, Working Paper 1, Working Paper 2, Working Paper 3, Working Paper 4
• 17. Effects of the Working Nation social security reforms: A policy simulation using MITTS - Final Report, Working Paper
• 18. The Growth of Jobless Households and the Polarisation of Employment in Australia - Final Report, Working Paper 9/2002
• 19. Comparison of alternative specifications for the labour supply models in MITTS - Final Report Part 1, Part 2, Part 4
• 21. Structural analyses of duration dependence and persistence in job-offer arrival rates and wages - Final Report
• 22. Labour market outcomes and welfare dependence of persons with disabilities in Australia - Final Report
• 23. Jobless households (HILDA) - Final Report
• 24. Effect of family composition and worklessness on the distribution of income and expenditure - Final Report, Working Paper 19/2003
• 25. Effects of divorce on childrens' education and whether they are accounted for by moving house - Final Report, Working Paper 22/2004
• 26. Effects of education, fertility and divorce on married women's employment: Patterns past, present and future - Final Report, Working Paper 23/2004
• 27. Working time preferences in couple households (HILDA)
• 28. The importance of where people live for subjective welfare - Final Report, Working Paper 24/2003
• 29. International comparison of trends in the polarisation of employment - Final Report
• 30. The effect of childcare costs on labour supply - Final Report
• 31. Extending the range of distributional measures in MITTS - Final Report, Working Paper 21/2003
• 32. MITTS - GAUSS for Windows - Final Report
• 33. Use of HILDA in MITTS - Final Report
• 34. Transitions to retirement - Final Report
• 35. Underemployment in Australia - Final Report
• 36. Job search of the unemployed - Descriptions and determinants - Final Report
• 37. DSP Outflows - Final Report
• 38. Extending output of MITTS (project a) - Final Report
• 39. Validation of MITTS-A - Final Report
• 40. Dynamic properties of income support - Final Report
• 41. Cohort and distributional analysis of wealthy Australians - Final Report
• 42. Financial stress, wealth, poverty and indebtedness - Final Report
• 43. Who uses childcare? - Final Report
• 44. Long term unemployment - Final Report
• 45. Incentives of the current system for single and married mothers - Final Report
• 46. Reweighting of SIHC for use in MITTS - Final Report, Working Paper 26/2004
• 47. Living arrangements of young people