Employment, The Labour Force and Unemployment in Australia: A Disagregegated Approach

This article presents statistical analysis of the distributional aspects of labour market developments in the Australian economy from 1966 to 1985. The focus is on the adjustment of the labour force to changes in employment opportunities. Two sets of data for selected age/sex/marital groups are utilised in the analysis: regressions to test for differences in the sensitivity of labour force participation to employment opportunities and a series of tables documenting population adjusted changes in employment and the labour force. The aggregate relationship between employment changes and labour force changes (and hence changes in unemployment) is explained by the disaggregated data.     

Pension Benefits and the Decline in Elderly Male Labour Force Participation*

This paper uses time-series econometric methods to unravel the causes of the secular decline in the labour force participation rate of males aged 65 years and over. The study finds that most of the sharp and sudden decline in the participation rate during 1972–76 is atria but able 10 more generous age pension benefits, with minor support from the discouraged worker effect associated with the current recession. A key feature of the model is the inclusion of several social security policy variables, apart from the value of the old-age pension. These policy variables include the 'free area' means test limit and the 1976 switch from a means to an income test.     

The Contribution of Intermittent Labour Force Participation to the Gender Wage Differential*

Despite equal pay decisions in 1969 and 1972 a gender wage differential of around 15 per cent exists in 1990. This paper uses information on the number of years worked from the 1984 National Social Science Survey to provide an understanding of the role of intermittent labour force participation in the wage determination process in Australia. Differences in years worked between males and females are shown to account for approximately 40 per cent of the gender wage gap. The analyses also reveal that males receive higher returns for each additional year of schooling than females     

A Cross-Section Analysis of the Labour Force Participation of Married Women in Australia

'In a time when whales and seals are classified as endangered species, babies also seem to be an endangered species ˙˙˙ with so many mothers in the workforce our population growth has dropped below zero and I think the Federal government should counter that trend˙˙˙˙ Babies born in Australia are our best new Australians.' (Senator Florence Bjelke-Petersen in a speech to the Women's Action Alliance, reported in the Canberra Times, 3 June 1981 .)
The paper examines the labour supply of married women in Australia using data from the 1974 Census of Population and Housing. A number of approaches to modeling are employed. In the first instance OLS equations are estimated. These estimates are compared with instrumental variable estimates endogenizing wage rates. and with estimates from a three-equation system endogenizing fertility as well as wages. The evidence suggests that many of the factors proposed by modern theory do exercise significant influences in anticipated directions on the labour supply of married women in Australia.     

女性劳动参与对家庭储蓄率的影响

中国家庭的高储蓄是一个广受关注的问题,本文试图从女性劳动参与的角度对中国家庭的高储蓄给出解释。首先从理论上探讨了女性劳动参与和家庭储蓄率之间的关系,然后利用2017年中国家庭金融调查数据对此进行了实证检验。为克服内生性的影响,采用同一社区、同一年龄段的其他已婚女性劳动参与率作为家庭中已婚女性劳动参与的工具变量,实证检验已婚女性劳动参与对家庭储蓄率的影响。研究结果表明,已婚女性劳动参与显著增加家庭储蓄率。异质性分析发现,已婚女性劳动参与对20岁到30岁女性家庭、大学及以上教育水平和有二孩意愿家庭的储蓄率有显著影响。进一步研究发现,已婚女性劳动参与促进家庭储蓄率增加的原因是,家庭的收入水平显著增加,而家庭消费水平未发生显著性改变。同时,现阶段中国女性劳动参与没有显著降低家庭预防性储蓄动机,反而进一步提升了家庭储蓄率。本文为理解中国家庭的高储蓄提供了新的视角,可以为未来制定政策提供参考。     

Duration-Specific Unemployment Outflow Rates and Labour Market Programs

A matching function approach is used to investigate the macroeconomic effects of labour market program (LMP) commencements on unemployment outflows in Australia using unpublished data that classify commencements and outflows by duration of unemployment. The results indicate that LMPs have had significant effects on outflows from long-term unemployment. However, the net impact of programs on these outflows suggests that the substitution and displacement effects associated with programs are high. These results are consistent with recent microeconomic research into the effects of LMP participation on individual transitions out of unemployment.     

Family Income and Wealth,Youth Unemployment and Active Labour Market Policies

This paper studies some features of unemployment in Italy using cross section individual micro data. Since unemployment is particularly harsh with respect to youths, interest is focused on 15-29-year-old youngsters. The analysis is carried out using standard logit models and the results show that personal and family characteristics play an essential role in shaping youth activity and unemployment rates of short and long duration, together with product market conditions and labour market features. In particular, the income effect seems relevant for participation decisions, while the family wealth helps in reducing youth unemployment. Various policy instruments might be able to reduce youth unemployment, especially if these instruments are targeted through means-testing on family income and wealth and through a proper distinction between the first job seekers and the strictly unemployed.     

Impact of Low Birth Weight Child on Maternal Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper examines the impact of having a low birth weight child on maternal labour force participation. We use the instrumental variable technique, the sister fixed‐effects model and the propensity score matching method to control for the endogeneity of child health. Using a unique national merged parent–child data set from Taiwan, the within‐sister estimates indicate that having a low birth weight child reduces female employment during the first 3 years after the birth, by 1–2 percentage points. Furthermore, the adverse employment effect is found to be particularly strong for those mothers who have an illegitimate child with low birth weight.     

Unemployment, Participation and Family Incomes in the 1980s*

Microsimulation methods are used to estimate the impact of changing Australian participation and unemployment rates on the level and distribution of family disposable incomes between 1981-82 and 1988-89. Between 1983-84 and 1988-89 a fall in unemployment and an increase in the labour force participation of married women both led to significant increases in family disposable incomes Whilst the inequality increasing effect of the recession in the early 1980s was thus partly reversed, intra-family employment patterns suggest that the increased incomes due to participation increases largely bypassed those married couples at the bottom end of the income distribution.     

A Cohort Analysis of the Determinants of Employment and Labour Force Participation: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, 1981 to 1996

A synthetic cohort analysis of the probability of employment and participating in the labour force for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is presented in this article.     

Oil,Laws, and Female Labor Force Participation

Despite the rapid rise of women’s education and the fall of their fertility rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), female labor force participation (FLFP) rates remain low. This paper argues that oil and gas rents and Islamic family law jointly matter. Controlling for country and year fixed-effects in a long panel dataset, it shows that per capita oil and gas rents reduce FLFP rates in countries with Islamic family law more than others. The results are robust to econometric methodology and to controlling for the interaction of rents and all other time-constant factors that are common across the MENA region, such as culture, social norms, and institutions. Moreover, the results cannot be replicated by substituting historical plough use, a strong predictor of gender discrimination, in place of Islamic family law. Policy implications are discussed.     

Labour Market Policies and Long-term Unemployment in a Flow Model of the Australian Labour Market

This paper develops a general equilibrium job matching model, which is used to assess the impact of active labour market policies, reductions in unemployment benefits and reductions in worker bargaining power on long-term unemployment and other key macro variables. The model is calibrated using Australian data. Simulation experiments are conducted through impulse response analysis. The simulations suggest that active labour market programs (ALMPs) targeted at the long-term unemployed have a small net impact and produce adverse spillover effects on short-term unemployment. Reducing the level of unemployment benefits relative to wages and worker bargaining power have more substantial effects on total and long-term unemployment and none of the spillover effects of ALMPs.     

资产选择、风险偏好与储蓄存款需求

本文以消费者最优资产选择模型为基础,采用局部均衡分析方法探讨了通货膨胀、股市收益波动、消费者风险偏好对储蓄存款需求的影响。2001年6月以后,通货膨胀方差下降,股市持续下跌,股市收益率下降,收益率方差也有所下降,但货币需求却加速增长。本文根据不同的相对风险回避指数,模拟了利率、通货膨胀、股市收益率、股市收益率方差等因素对2001年6月至2005年9月平均储蓄存款的影响。在适当的相对风险回避指数下,储蓄存款增加的30%左右可以由这些因素解释;如果不考虑GDP等规模变量,股市收益率下降是导致平均货币需求增长的主要因素。     

消除劳动力歧视,推进农村剩余劳动力资源顺利转移

劳动力合理流动是劳动力资源充分利用、市场经济正常运转、农村剩余劳动力顺利转移的重要条件。当前 ,由于各种因素的影响 ,全国统一、开放、竞争、有序的劳动力市场还没有形成 ,劳动力歧视妨碍了农村剩余劳动力的转移和劳动力资源的合理利用。消除劳动力歧视 ,有利于促进劳动力合理流动和市场经济正常运行及二元经济结构转换     

The German Unemployment Compensation System: Effects On Aggregate Savings And Wealth Distribution

The effects of the German unemployment compensation system on aggregate savings and the distribution of wealth are studied in a general equilibrium 60–period OLG model. The distribution of wealth is derived as an endogenous function of the parameters characterizing the unemployment compensation system, which comprises unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosengeld), unemployment assistance (Arbeitslosenhilfe), and welfare payments (Sozialhilfe), the latter two being subject to a means test. As our main results: (i) both aggregate savings and wealth equality are a monotone decreasing function of unemployment benefits; (ii) optimal unemployment compensation declines over the spell of unemployment; (iii) asset–based means tests are shown to reduce welfare if the allowable wealth level is below the average wealth in the economy.     

Household Participation in Formal and Informal Savings Mechanisms: Evidence from Pakistan

Savings are an important determinant of both individual and national wellbeing. Typically, households employ a wide range of mechanisms for saving, including both formal and informal institutions. The choice of savings instrument has important micro- and macroeconomic implications. However, little is known empirically about the patterns of use of these instruments, or the factors affecting household decisions/ abilities to use them. The authors apply household-level data from a nationally representative survey for Pakistan to explore these issues in detail. In particular, they focus on the choice between banks and bisi , an informal saving committee similar in nature to a rotating-savings-and-credit association.     

Testing the Participation Constraint in the Executive Labour Market

This paper tests the participation constraint by examining the workings of the executive labour market in a panel of UK listed companies over a period of 14 years. Directors are found to move jobs regularly – both within companies and between companies. Consistent with agency theory, directors who are underpaid relative to their comparable peers are particularly likely to leave for higher paying jobs in other companies. Those who move between companies secure more favourable terms than those who move within their firm – even when the move does not involve promotion, calling into question the managerial power perspective of this area of employment.