Plant closures in Australia’s automotive industry: continuity and change

Rethinking job loss in an age of assetisation: Lessons from the study of precarious older workers

“…Approximately 14,000 job losses had occurred among the three carmakers and their manufacturing suppliers 12 months after the final closures (Australian Government, 2019). The first wave of survey data, conducted in mid-2020, drew 1277 responses from retrenched workers across Victoria and South Australia (SA) where manufacturing facilities were located (Irving et al, 2022). This article draws data from Wave 2 of the longitudinal survey in mid-2021 ( n = 886) which included questions about workers’ financial security, asset wealth and housing status, as well as their labour market status and employment conditions.…”

“…International research on deindustrialisation and job loss has accumulated over decades into a vast interdisciplinary field (Cowie and Heathcott, 2003; Strangleman and Rhodes, 2014; Weller, 2012). The most common conclusion within this field is that closures and mass layoffs have been devastating for workers, households, communities and places in, for example, North America (Bluestone and Harrison, 1982; Cowie and Heathcott, 2003; High, 2003; Linkon and Russo, 2002; Sugrue, 2005), Britain (Harris et al, 1987; Hudson, 2005; Massey and Meegan, 1982; Westergaard et al, 1989) and Australia (Beer et al, 2006; Irving et al, 2022; Webber and Weller, 2001). Studies of deindustrialisation have tended to reproduce findings that mass redundancies lead to unemployment and precarious employment (Bailey and de Ruyter, 2015; Barnes, 2021; Standing, 2011), 1 as well as negative consequences for workers’ physical and mental health.…”

“…Prior to the closure, over 85% of workers were in permanent fulltime jobs; 3 years after the final closures, 14.4% of workers were still unemployed, although many of these workers had been through more than one job post-closure. Of those in paid employment, 66.4% had a permanent contract and 33.6% were in casual, agency, fixed-term or other insecure employment arrangements (Irving et al, 2022). While such findings are not new, the article demonstrates what happens when asset ownership is considered alongside these labour market effects.…”

“…The idea that the high-income countries and regions have been reshaped by deindustrialisation is well-known. Numerous studies argue that major closures have had devastating effects on people and places (Bluestone and Harrison, 1982;High, 2003;Irving et al, 2022;Massey and Meegan, 1982;Sugrue, 2005;Webber and Weller, 2001). Common effects include lower incomes, long-term unemployment, and exposure to labour markets typified by precarious or insecure work (Bailey and de Ruyter, 2015;Barnes, 2021), as well as negative consequences for workers' mental and physical well-being (Beer et al, 2006;Dudley, 1994).…”

Punish, protect or redirect? Synthesising workfare with ‘spatially Keynesian’ labour market policies in times of job loss

“… 3. A larger survey undertaken three years post-closure (n = 1277) found that 14 percent were unemployed; of those in paid employment, 66 percent had a permanent job, 30 percent were casual, and 4 percent had a fixed-term or other type of contract (Irving et al, 2022). …”