Sex Differences in Labour Turnover in the Australian Public Service*

This paper reports the use of a large data set of Australian government employees in an analysis of the influence of sex on voluntary labour turnover. Estimates derived from a conventional quit model are used to obtain ceteris paribus sex specific quit probabilities. These suggest that once other relevant variables are held constant, the expected quit differences between men and single women are significantly reduced. The analysis indicates clearly that the use of aggregate statistics may substantially exaggerate turnover differences attributable to sex.     

The Sources of Changes in the Occupational Segregation of Australian Women*

Earlier studies have shown that Australian women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations and that although occupational segregation has declined during the 20th century, the rate of decline is diminishing. This study uses census data from 1891 to 1981 to analyze the sources of changes in the Duncan and Duncan segregational index. It distinguishes changes in the index due to shifts in the occupational mix of the economy, and shifts in the sex composition within specific occupations. Both effects contributed to the general decline in segregation although the composition effect was quantitatively more important.     

Occupational Prestige and Labour Market Behaviour in Papua New Guinea*

‘Underdevelopment economics is a vastly important subject, but it is not a formal or theoretical subject. It is a practical subject which must expect to call upon any branch of theory (including non-economic, for instance, sociological, theory) which has any relevance to it’ [17].     

劳动力市场歧视的分析及对策

本文首先介绍了劳动力市场歧视的概念、来源 ,然后就劳动力市场歧视的几种类型和中国的现状进行了全面系统的分析 ,最后提出了解决劳动力市场歧视问题的对策。文章主张 :通过反歧视教育、反歧视立法、反歧视补贴、创造劳动力市场充分信息、减少职业隔离、减少人力资本投资中的歧视 ,来解决劳动力市场歧视的问题。     

The Youth Labour Market in Australia*

This paper uses unit record data from the 1985 Australian Longitudinal Survey to review the major features of the youth labour market. It is shown that education plays an important role in determining the incidence of unemployment, wages, hours of work and access to training opportunities. Analyses of labour market dynamics indicates that the probability of leaving unemployment falls off substantially as the duration of the unemployment spell increases. A major conclusion of the paper is that the longer term unemployed appear to be segmented from other labour market participants. An implication of this finding is that there b very little which the longer term unemployed can do at the margin to influence their success other than adopt the most productive method of job search.     

A Characterization of Australian Unemployment Compensation: An Analysis of Labour Market Adjustment*

This paper uses a labour contracting framework to analyze the microeconomics of the Australian unemployment compensation system. We find that employers adjust labour inputs by using layoffs rather than shortened workweeks or work-sharing during economic recessions. Increases in government benefits tend to reinforce this result Countervailing influences are shown to be the severity of the income test applying to benefits eligibility and the Family Allowance Supplement in its role as supplementing the income of low-income families.     

Microeconomic Evaluations of Australian Labour Market Programs

This article reviews literature which measures the effects of labour market programs on individual's labour market outcomes.     

Occupational Segregation Indices in the Multidimensional Case: A Note*

An extension of an index of segregation recently proposed by Karmel and Maclachlan (1988) is suggested which allows the analysis of occupational segregation in the multidimensional case.     

Occupational Sex Segregation —Increasing or Decreasing?*

Contrary to previous findings, the new index of sex segregation derived in this study suggests that sex segregation in the Australian workforce has been increasing. A decomposition of this new index indicates that the main reason for the increase is the increasing share of employment held by females. The decomposition also considers a number of aspects of occupations including growth rates, skill levels and gender domination.     

Screening and Human Capital in the Australian Labour Market of the 1990s

This paper presents tests of the screening hypothesis using data on adult males from the 1996 Australian Census of Population and Housing. These tests are based on comparisons of wage and salary earners and the self-employed, and public and private sector workers, as examples of screened and unscreened employments. The first test compares the mean levels of schooling, income and labour market experience in screened and unscreened sectors, while the second examines the returns to schooling and the goodness of fit of the earnings models for both wage and salary earning (separated into public and private sector employees) and self-employed groups. The results are equivocal, but suggest screening could be part of the earnings determination process in the Australian labour market.     

Labour Market Programs and the Australian Beveridge Curve: 1978 to 1997

Labour market programs are often advocated on the basis that by re-introducing unemployed people to the culture of the workplace, they will re-skill and motivate them enough to make them suitable employees to prospective employers. Accordingly, total employment should rise and vacancy rates fall. If programs work in this manner, we should be able to detect a systematic relationship between labour market program expenditure and the distance of the Beveridge curve from the origin ceteris paribus. There are few studies in the world that have directly tried to assess the impact of labour market program expenditure on the Beveridge curve. Our estimates for Australia over the last 19 years give limited support to the view that most labour market programs nave moved the Beveridge curve inwards.     

The Semi-Strong Efficiency of the Australian Share Market*

This paper tests the weak and semi-strong forms of the Efficient-Markets Hypothesis (EMH) using data on the Australian skate market in the 1980s. The tests are based on aggregate share price indexes and the semi-strong efficiency tests use macroeconomic data The weak-form tests examine the autocorrelation structure of share returns and test for unit roots in share prices. The data are found to be consistent with the EMH.     

Wage Adjustments and Labour Market Systems: A Cross-Country Analysis*

Evidence is presented on how well alternative systems of wage determination facilitate disaggregate labour market adjustment. Tests of statistical causality are used to relate labour market pressure to relative wage changes. The conclusion is that rates of change of relative wages are determined independently of the microeconomic market balance. This result holds irrespective of the institutional form of the wage-fixing system.     

Labour Market Policy Developments in Japan: Following an Australian Lead?

In recent times, Japan has experienced a rapid expansion in its service sector, increases in casual and part‐time employment and record unemployment. In addition, there has been an associated rise of freeters and NEETs—predominantly young workers with tenuous labour market attachment. While somewhat slow in initiating policy responses, the Japanese government responded to these structural changes by reforming its existing employment policies. In this article we argue that recent changes in the nature of Japan's labour market policies appear to have been driven by some of the same factors which led to the radical overhaul of Australia's own labour market policies.     

The Social Structure of the Australian Urban Labour Market: 1976–1991

Abstract
The changing social structure of the labour market has both distributional and efficiency implications for Australian society. This article analyses the increase in the employment inequality among Australian urban neighbourhoods (that is, Collectors Districts or CDs) between the 1976 and 1991 censuses. When CDs are ranked by socioeconomic status we find that the employment rate falls by more in the low status areas than in other areas. Given that participation and population growth rates are higher in the high status areas, this phenomenon is likely to be driven by differences in employment levels. Shift share analysis of changes in employment levels shows that the lower demand for workers who live in the low status areas has led to falls in employment in those areas. Therefore the structural shift in the Australian economy has been a major explanation of the differences in employment rate within Australian cities. The results raise questions about the current ability of Australia's economy to adjust to the structural change necessary in an open economy .     

Efficiency and Equality in the Labour Market

I review theoretical arguments suggesting that certain labourmarket institutions can be justified for economic efficiencyreasons. In models with intrinsic market failures, "rigidities"like employment protection legislation and institutional wagecompression may push the economy closer to the efficient frontier.I discuss recent empirical evidence on income inequality, povertyand income mobility in OECD countries, and I conclude that thewelfare states of Northern Europe score relatively well on allcounts. Finally, I discuss labour market reforms that may improveefficiency without violating European voters' preference forequality.(JEL H30, J30, J50)