Suicide rates in younger age groups in Australia, and in a number of other similar Western countries, have increased substantially since the 1960s. In Australia this rise has occurred contemporaneously with rises in youth unemployment rates, especially in males. Aggregate analyses investigating the relationship between these trends are reviewed for Australia, and compared with similar international aggregate studies of youth suicide and unemployment. Individual based studies investigating the role of unemployment in the causal pathways associated with suicide are also considered in this review. Aggregate suicide and unemployment data for males aged 20–24 years is presented to illustrate the changing relationship between unemployment and youth suicide over 1921–1998. The relationship between youth suicide rates and unemployment rates, particularly in males, is discussed in terms of the utility of using such indicators in evaluating suicide prevention initiatives. The applicability of aggregate variables in multi-dimensional explanations of suicide is also discussed.

Unemployment is a health hazard. There is increasing Australian and international evidence that people who are unemployed are more likely to have higher rates of mortality, morbidity (illness) and use of health services. The large numbers of people who are unemployed mean that the impacts of unemployment are just not felt at individual or family level but across the population as a whole. This paper outlines the evidence of the impact of unemployment on health and discusses some of the ways in which these health problems could be addressed through reorientation of health services, developing the skills of people who are unemployed, strengthening community action, creating environments that support people who are unemployed and their families, and the development of public policy. It discusses some of the difficulties in undertaking research in this area and calls for a more systematic approach to understanding the cost of unemployment.

Since the 1930s, research has indicated that unemployment has serious effects on physical and psychological well-being. Recent evidence confirms these findings and provides greater insight into the processes by which unemployment influences health. It is less widely recognised that job insecurity can also adversely affect the health and well-being of workers. This paper reviews the rapidly growing body of research on the health impact of job insecurity and organisational practices that produce insecurity, such as downsizing and restructuring. Our review identified sixty-eight studies, using a variety of methods and measures, published internationally since 1966. Eighty-eight per cent of these studies indicated that job insecurity was associated with diminished worker health and well-being. Implications of this finding for labour market and industrial relations policies, as well as occupational health and safety, are discussed.

This article examines the power and purpose of union peak bodies, focussing on one particularly powerful organisation, the Barrier Industrial Council in Broken Hill. We argue that the power and purpose of all such bodies is multi-dimensional, historically contingent and spatially specific. The most illuminating studies conceptualise peak bodies as agents of mobilisation, with power delegated by affiliates, and of economic and political exchange, with power derived from a ‘structural coupling’ with the state and capital. However, there is a third possible peak body purpose: social regulation and, specifically, the regulation of labour and commodity markets. This was a conspicuous activity of the Barrier Industrial Council, underpinned by success in mobilisation and exchange and by ‘place consciousness’. Understanding the variety of potential power sources holds the key to explaining not only why some peak bodies command more power than others but also why there is so much variation in peak union focus and behaviour.

A burgeoning literature has emerged over the last decade examining the growth of the New Public Management model in the public sector. The literature, however, tends to overlook the implications of these reforms for employment relations in the public sector. This paper presents evidence from two major surveys from the mid-1990s that compare the impact of workplace change on Australian public and private sector workers. Public sector workers reported they were working more intensively, under greater stress and with less job security than private sector workers. They also reported that their satisfaction with their job, with management and with their work/family balance had declined to a greater extent than their private sector counterparts. These employee responses suggest, despite the assertions of public sector management reports to the contrary, that the NPM reforms in the Australian public sector have resulted in more intensive workloads, increased job-related stress and reduced job security for many Australian public sector employees in the 1990s.

This article examines the productivity performance of the Australian construction industry and identifies some of the key factors affecting productivity growth. It also critically assesses the recent Productivity Commission (1999) report on the construction industry. In particular, the article challenges the argument of the Productivity Commission that a high level of unionisation within the industry is adverse for productivity growth. Moreover, the recommendations of the Commission directed at increasing productivity within the industry are argued to exacerbate those structural features of the construction industry which impose a constraint on productivity growth. The primary data sources are national and international official economic data on the industry and a number of case studies of major city building projects undertaken by the authors. The study finds that the Australian construction industry is within the top three OECD countries in terms of construction output per person employed.

In this paper, the costs and benefits of reform of the electricity industry in Australia are assessed. Issues addressed include the National Grid and the National Electricity Market, corporatisation, competitive restructuring, regulation, and privatisation.

The welfare reform debate is proceeding against a background of high unemployment and rising inequality. In Australia, the blueprint for reform of the social security system developed by the McClure Report is built around the notion of mutual obligation — the idea that those who receive support from government should be required to ‘give something back’. Public opinion is supportive of requiring mutual obligation of some groups of the unemployed, but it also supports the view that solving unemployment generally is the government’s responsibility. Although welfare reforms introduced in the US and UK have reduced the welfare rolls, their impact on wages and the labour market must also be considered. If welfare reform in Australia is to avoid the low wages and extreme poverty that are features of the US, welfare reform will need to be accompanied by reform of the labour market.