Abstract:This article reviews the economy-wide effects of the Work Choices and Fair Work reforms to Australia's industrial relations system. Outcomes examined are wages growth and earnings inequality, labour market adjustment, labour productivity growth and industrial disputes. Little evidence is found of an effect from the industrial relations reforms made in the 2000s. I argue that this is consistent with the nature of the reforms, being primarily oriented to distributive rather than efficiency goals. I finish by des… Show more
“…The Australian Constitution grants the Commonwealth Parliament power to legislate over the conciliation and arbitration of industrial disputes and historically this power had underpinned the centralized wage bargaining regime in Australia. It is only over the last two decades that a relatively rigid wage structure determined through a set of centrally determined “awards” has given way to bargaining at the enterprise level and the individual level (Borland ; Wooden ). Changes to industrial legislation following the re‐election of a Conservative government in 2004 furthered this process.…”
There is some evidence that gender differences exist in the propensity to negotiate and outcomes from negotiation. We examine the propensity to negotiate over pay with the employer, the wage outcomes resulting from negotiation, and the impact on the gender wage gap. We find evidence that females are less likely to have the opportunity to negotiate over pay. However, conditional on the opportunity to negotiate, they are no less likely to actually negotiate. The analysis does not provide strong evidence that women fare worse than men if negotiation occurs.
“…The Australian Constitution grants the Commonwealth Parliament power to legislate over the conciliation and arbitration of industrial disputes and historically this power had underpinned the centralized wage bargaining regime in Australia. It is only over the last two decades that a relatively rigid wage structure determined through a set of centrally determined “awards” has given way to bargaining at the enterprise level and the individual level (Borland ; Wooden ). Changes to industrial legislation following the re‐election of a Conservative government in 2004 furthered this process.…”
There is some evidence that gender differences exist in the propensity to negotiate and outcomes from negotiation. We examine the propensity to negotiate over pay with the employer, the wage outcomes resulting from negotiation, and the impact on the gender wage gap. We find evidence that females are less likely to have the opportunity to negotiate over pay. However, conditional on the opportunity to negotiate, they are no less likely to actually negotiate. The analysis does not provide strong evidence that women fare worse than men if negotiation occurs.
“…In my talk, I examined five types of aggregate‐level outcomes in the Australian economy and labour market during the 2000s: (i) wage inflation; (ii) the distribution of earnings; (iii) labour productivity; (iv) how the labour market adjusts; and (v) strike activity. From this review, I concluded (Borland , pp. 282–3) that there was: … little evidence of effects from the Work Choices or Fair Work reforms made to Australia's industrial relations system in the 2000s … [and] the limited effects of reforms in the 2000s can be explained by the nature of those reforms—being primarily oriented to changing the relative bargaining power of employers and employees, rather than to enhancing overall economic performance.…”
Section: How Should Policy‐makers Respond?mentioning
confidence: 98%
“…One area of policy‐making, which received considerable attention a couple of years ago, then faded, but is beginning to make a comeback, and I am sure will get stronger once the Productivity Commission gets the Terms of Reference for its review on the topic, is industrial relations reform. At the time it was receiving so much attention, I gave a talk where I described industrial relations reform as ‘a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ (Borland , p. 269). I think that is still the case and I do not regard industrial relations reform as a major opportunity to reduce the rate of unemployment in Australia.…”
Section: How Should Policy‐makers Respond?mentioning
This article reviews Australia's unemployment experience since the Global Financial Crisis. First, developments in the rate of unemployment since the Global Financial Crisis are described. Second, the main drivers of the increase in the rate of unemployment that has occurred are established. Third, some aspects of recent experience that have received substantial attention-such as increasing youth unemployment and growing regional dispersion in unemployment rates-are considered. Studying the history of the Australian labour market reveals that these features always accompany cyclical downturns. Fourth, policy options for dealing with unemployment are evaluated.
“…The Productivity Commission's inquiry into the workplace relations framework found the system to be functioning effectively overall and recommended that 'repair, not replacement, should be the policy imperative' (Productivity Commission, 2015: 2). Moreover, frequent reform since the early 1990s has created considerable uncertainty and adjustment costs at the workplace, with minimal identified benefits to economic performance in return (Borland, 2012;Giudice, 2014).…”
Section: The 2016 Federal Election and Its Aftermathmentioning
This article introduces the Journal of Industrial Relations Annual Review of Industrial Relations in 2016. It first discusses key industrial relations developments over the past year in Australia, with a particular focus on the federal election and its aftermath. The article then examines the growing challenges relating to inequality in the Australian labour market and the declining effectiveness of industrial relations actors and institutions in addressing these challenges. It then considers the implications for Australian industrial relations of two seismic international political developments over the past year heralding the ascent of a protectionist policy paradigm: the UK’s ‘Brexit’ referendum and Donald Trump’s election as US President. Finally, the article provides an overview of the articles contained in the Annual Review issue.
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