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Options for Assisting Low Wage Earners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

David Ingles  and
Ken Oliver
Ken Oliver
Affiliation:
Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra
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Abstract

A number of proposals for reducing unemployment in Australia focus on cuts or freezes in award wages. Typically, such proposals include (often vague) proposals to offset some of the distributional consequences by top-ups or other adjustments to the tax/transfer system. This paper examines the available options and concludes that, given the current structure of the social security system, there are serious obstacles to the most common ones such as the NIT or the EITC. There is a case for further reducing tax burdens on low wage earners, but options in this area tend to be very expensive and/or require targeting on a family needs basis

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , June 2000 , pp. 76 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2000

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Footnotes

*

A number of people have provided helpful comments on previous versions of this paper. Among these, the authors would like to particularly thank Wayne Jackson, James Jordan and David Kalisch (from FaCS) and Scott Matheson (DEWRSB). Our thanks are also due to Peter Whiteford for data on minimum wages. The views expressed in this paper, along with any errors, are those of the authors. They do not represent the views of either the Government or the Department of Family and Community Services.

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