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Collective Bargaining and the Labour Market Flexibility Debate in New Zealand: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Raymond Harbridge  and
David Rea
Raymond Harbridge
Affiliation:
Industrial Relations Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
David Rea
Affiliation:
Industrial Relations Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
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Abstract

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This paper reviews the empirical evidence of rigidity in the New Zealand labour market over the period 1984–1990, with particular reference to collective bargaining. It demonstrates that labour market institutions displayed an important degree of flexibility over this period. Despite this, labour markets were stigmatized as ‘inflexible’ in public debate and labour market policy has been driven by the assumption that more flexibility was required.

Type
Contemporary Issues and Developments
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , June 1992 , pp. 126 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1992

Footnotes

*

This research was supported by grant 693/91 from the Internal Grants Committee, Victoria University. The Authors would like to thank Stuart McGraw and James Moulder for research assistance.

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