Dr. Karina Doorley:

There are lots of things we could consider a barrier to work. The ones that we have worked on in the past, and we have evidence they really do hinder peoples' ability to work, are the provision of affordable, available, good-quality childcare and the same for elder care. There are lots of people who are either caring for children or caring for an elderly person or a relative. That is a barrier to them working if they want to do so. Things like joint taxation provides a disincentive for secondary earners to work, meaning, the household's lower earner's potential to work. They typically tends to be women. There are other aspects in the tax and welfare system that could be considered cliff edges and disincentives to work. Those would be a little bit more specific They could be things like the four and seven rule for social welfare payments, and things like that. Things that are fairly straightforward to address and other things that are quite complicated to address.