New Zealand – Accordant H1 revenue growth boosted by white-collar business

Accordant (AGC:NZC), the New Zealand-based temporary staffing provider, reported revenue today for the six month period ended 30 September 2022 of NZD 122.9 million (USD 71.3 million), up 11.4% compared to last year.

India – Demand for temporary workers, gig workers peaks amid festive season (LiveMint)

Companies in India hired a record 400,000 gig and temporary workers to serve festival shopping demand, reports LiveMint, citing research from the Indian Staffing Federation. It comes as consumers enjoy the first Diwali festival without pandemic curbs in three years. Hiring for last-mile deliveries was...

Taiwan – Majority of firms plan to pay a Lunar New Year bonus (Taipei Times)

More than 70% of companies in Taiwan have said they would pay their employees a cash bonus at the end of the lunar year in January next year, with most of them planning to give 1.17 months’ wage on average, reports Taipei Times, citing a survey from job search firm Yes123 Job Bank. Among the 71.4%...

New Zealand – Uber drivers win landmark case declaring them employees

The New Zealand Employment Court ruled in a landmark case that four drivers for work services platform Uber are, in fact, employees and not independent contractors, which would entitle them to worker rights and protections.

While the ruling applies directly to the four drivers, the court noted that it...

Australia – Engineering business operator fined over failed back-payments to casual worker

Australia’s workplace watchdog the Fair Work Ombudsman has secured a penalty in court against the operator of a business in Queensland, Australia that carries out services including custom fabrication and mobile welding.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed a AUD 5,000 (2,784) penalty against...

South Korea – Proportion of non-regular workers slips 0.9% in August (Xinhua)

The proportion of South Korea's non-regular workers fell due to a faster increase in regular employees than non-regular ones, reports Xinhua, citing data from Statistics Korea. The ratio of non-regular workers, including part-timers, daily labourers and outsourced workers, stood at 37.5% of the total...

India – Joblessness rises in October to 7.86% with uptick in rural unemployment (New Indian Express)

India’s unemployment rate has shot up to 7.86% in October (30 day average up to 19 October) from 6.43% in September, reports The New Indian Express, citing data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The spike was driven by rural unemployment at 8.01% (up from 5.84% the previous month)....

Australia – Adecco Australia wins major Defence contract from incumbent ManpowerGroup

The Australian Government has selected Adecco Australia as the Defence Force’s new recruitment partner in the latest move to scale up the Australian Defence Force.

The new contract officially commences on 1 July 2023.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel,...

World – ILO Director-General calls for social protection and minimum wages to respond to cost-of-living crisis

International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo said ‘preventing scarring’ and protecting the most vulnerable workers by increasing minimum wages and guaranteeing social protection benefits should be among the priority responses to the current economic and social...

Hong Kong – Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate improves to 3.9% in September quarter

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Hong Kong stood at 3.9% in the period from July - September 2022, down from 4.5% during the same period a year ago, according to the latest labour force statistics published by the Census and Statistics Department.

On a quarterly basis, the seasonally adjusted...