“What we want is a focused dialogue and constructive debate that leads to concrete and tangible actions.”

Albanese said his government’s plan for economic growth and productivity was about Australians “earning more and keeping more of what they earn”, and that it wanted to build an economy where “growth, wages and productivity all rise together”.

How is Australia faring on productivity?

Labour productivity is a measure of how much output is produced per worker or per hour worked. Productivity growth occurs when workers are able to get more out of the same or shorter amount of time — such as though access to technologies that make their processes more efficient.

Economists have expressed concern about Australia’s lagging productivity rate, and Chalmers has identified improving it as one of his key priorities, having called it the most significant structural problem facing the economy.

Has the government held a meeting like this before?

However, Albanese said that the roundtable would be a “more streamlined dialogue” than the summit.

Anthony Albanese’s government brought together business and union leaders and others during the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Press Club president Tom Connell said to Albanese that in the wake of the Jobs and Skills Summit, some business leaders felt outcomes were slanted towards the priorities of unions.

“What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment, and that’s what my government is focused on.”

“What we do support is companies being successful. We support proper negotiation between workers and businesses to achieve productivity improvements. And we support living standards not going backwards.”

What’s next?