Internationally, education systems face significant challenges in ensuring adequate teacher supply, and thus early career teacher retention is critical. Effective induction, as a component of an overall retention strategy, is vital for early career teachers transitioning into the profession. In this critical policy study, we examined the emergence of the policy problem of the induction of precariously employed early career teachers. We examined two key Australian induction policies and their related contexts to determine how precarious early career teachers are positioned and how this positioning has changed over time, to expose the underlying power dynamics. This study used a ‘public issues’ and ‘private troubles’ lens to explore how the private troubles that these teachers face stem from larger social issues. The findings suggest that the evolution of induction policies from 2016 to 2023 shows progress towards recognising the needs of precariously employed early career teachers, but significant gaps and private troubles for them remain. This study has implications for policy and practice to support precariously employed early career teachers as they enter the profession, and potentially for improving teacher retention rates, combatting the global teacher shortage.