An Analysis of Joblessness in Australia

The major failures of macroeconomic policy in the last 40 years are the huge increases in unemployment and inflation in the 1970s and the persistence for 25 years of the former. This article uses econometric estimates of a model of the range of equilibria for Australia for the period 1965:4 to 2003:3 to evaluate the role of macroeconomic policies in these failures. Our analysis distinguishes the roles of aggregate supply policies and aggregate demand policies. We conclude from our analysis that macroeconomic outcomes would have been better over this period had monetary policy been guided by a hierarchical inflation target, which is to be set so as to achieve the highest level of activity subject to satisfying the inflation target.

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“…5. Argy (2005) decomposes unemployment in Australia for mid-2004 into the categories Keynesian, frictional, voluntary, classical and…”

Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evaluation of Unemployment Policy in Australia Using the Range of Equilibria

Lye

McDonald

2006

Aust Econ Rev

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“…Of course, because Australia has long had a minimum wage we cannot tell what the market wage would be if there were no minimum. However, it can be deduced from the characteristics of the unemployed, particularly the long-term unemployed, namely that they are low skilled, that their market wage would be low (Argy 2005).…”

Section: The Economics Of Unemployment and The Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

The First Two Decisions of the Australian Fair Pay Commission: A Critique

Lewis¹

2008

Agenda

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The Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) was established by the Howard government under the controversial WorkChoices legislation. It was heralded by its supporters as a major improvement on the previous system of safety-net wage cases under the Industrial Relations Commission and universally condemned by the union movement and Labor. Others questioned whether a minimum wage was needed at all or even whether it was a major impediment to labour-market adjustment. The AFPC's first and subsequent decisions were, therefore, looked on with interest by the media, academics, politicians and vested interests. This paper provides a critique of the AFPC's first decisions and suggests how the process of arriving at a minimum wage could be improved. BackgroundAustralia had, until fairly recently, a system of wage determination, and of industrial relations more generally, that had only one or two counterparts in the rest of the industrialised world. Although this system underwent considerable change under the Hawke/Keating governments and this continued under the Coalition administration, a major distinguishing feature of the Australian system remained the role played by a range of arbitration and conciliation tribunals, the dominant institution being the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), although it formerly had other titles. These tribunals set the minimum rates of pay and the conditions of work of employees set out in awards. However, by 2005 only about 20 per cent of Australian workers relied on awards for their pay determination. National awards took as their benchmark the so-called safety-net increases determined by the National Wage Case decisions of the AIRC. These decisions were made after an exhaustive process of written submissions by employer groups, unions, government bodies and other interest groups, with evidence and cross-examination taking place in an adversarial court-like setting lasting several months.With the passing of the WorkChoices legislation in 2006 the role of the AIRC in setting minimum wages, and the subsequent changes to national awards, passed to the newly created Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC). The five

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“…Second, job creation is occurring mostly in the lower-skilled, highly casualised, lower-paid and least secure occupations (Argy, 2006). The result, if the United States is to be held up as a perfect example, is the residualisation of women and minority groups, the establishment of a subclass of the 'working poor' and growing social inequality (Argy, 2005).…”

Section: Equality Of Opportunitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Equity in the Futures Market: Curriculum as a Condition of Access

Graham

2007

Policy Futures in Education

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Objective: This pilot study examined the effect of structural family therapy (SFT) on children's impairment and depressive symptomatology and mothers' depressive symptomatology and anxiety for 31 families served by a community mental health clinic. Method: A one group predesign/postdesign, with a baseline and two follow-up time points, was used. Results: A series of repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant improvement for mothers' depression, F(2, 36) ¼ 6.93, p ¼ .003, Z 2 ¼ .278, and anxiety, F(2, 34) ¼ 6.44, p ¼ .004, Z 2 ¼ .275. Mothers' ratings of their children's impairment significantly improved, F(2, 42) ¼ 6.27, p ¼ .005, Z 2 ¼ .270, though children's self-rated impairment and depressive symptomatology did not change. Results were confirmed using random regression analyses. Conclusion: SFT has promise for simultaneously addressing mothers' and children's needs in community mental health settings. However, structural barriers impacting feasibility were identified and discussed.

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An Analysis of Joblessness in Australia

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

An Evaluation of Unemployment Policy in Australia Using the Range of Equilibria

An Evaluation of Unemployment Policy in Australia Using the Range of Equilibria

The First Two Decisions of the Australian Fair Pay Commission: A Critique

Towards Equity in the Futures Market: Curriculum as a Condition of Access

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