In this paper it is demonstrated that the measurable costs of the sustained high rate of unemployment in Australia are substantially higher than the alleged gains from neo-liberal (microeconomic) reforms. In addition, significant individual and social costs can be identified. Consequently macroeconomic intervention to reduce unemployment should be viewed as a priority, rather than the imposition of market reform with its uncertain impact. The paper concludes with a brief outline of a Job Guarantee Program, advocated by Mitchell (1998) that utilises the principles of the buffer stock mechanism to reduce unemployment. It is argued that the net increase in government outlays is modest and could be offset by a reduction in the level of annual corporate welfare.

This paper reviews evidence about the incidence and impact of unemployment on the family. It finds that while the unemployment rate faced by husbands and wives is relatively low, many unemployed people fall into this category (36.2% were husbands and wives in 1998). Sole parents have a high unemployment rate. Hence, around one-third of unemployment is borne by parents with dependent children. Joblessness in families is also examined. The impacts of unemployment on families include poverty and hardship, strained relationships, poorer health (although the causal relationships are not always clear), and housing stress. Unemployment could also harm children’s development and employment futures. Some policy issues are explored including the need to provide protection for the living standards for families affected by unemployment and taking a number of actions to reduce unemployment. The dilemmas posed by mutual obligation and the trend to precarious low-paid work are also raised.

In a purely economic sense, unemployment in the Australian community is extremely costly. This article analyses evidence from the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey (NATSIS) to illustrate that social costs of unemployment are potentially very large. The unemployed, especially the long-term unemployed, fared worse than the employed on a range of social indicators. For example, among urban unemployed, the long-term unemployed: are more likely to have been arrested, are more likely to be taken from natural family, are less likely to have voted in a recent election, have lower participation rates in voluntary work, are less likely to be motivated and are more likely to have a long-term health problem. The unprecedented range of social indicators in the NATSIS means that the analysis provides an insight into the likely social costs of unemployment in the population at large, not just those for the Indigenous population.

The issue of mature-age unemployment has now received comprehensive scrutiny by a parliamentary committee, which confirms in detail that mature-age workers (45 plus) are disproportionately represented among the long-term and very-long-term unemployed. So far, the Commonwealth Government has taken no action to deal specifically with these age groups, but programs now exist in three states, NSW, South Australia and Western Australia. The principal difficulty experienced by older workers is the attitude of employers, who consistently give preference to younger people. Although there is growing awareness of the problem, the situation is unlikely to change significantly until the demographic pressure of an ageing workforce becomes inescapable.

The deterioration of the labour market associated with high and sustained rates of unemployment leads to forms of hidden unemployment and underemployment as well as a systematic decline in job quality. The ability of employers to reduce job quality is enhanced through conditions of persistent excess labour supply. In turn the State can challenge and erode conditions and standards that sustain job quality. Hence, falling job quality is another of the hidden costs of unemployment. This paper sets out the decline in job quality in Australia as manifested by the growth in non-standard employment arrangements and by the systematic erosion of the conditions associated with the standard employment model.

In June, 1999, the Federal Coalition government proposed further reforms of the Australian industrial relations system. Included in this reform package were proposals for a Mediation Adviser to oversee the use of mediation in industrial relations. The paper critically examines these proposals. Data from a survey of WA practitioners indicates that the core elements of mediation are seen as self-responsibility and voluntariness which clearly distinguish it from the traditional processes of conciliation by the tribunal. However, there is also uncertainty over the nature of mediation and how it might operate in the context of, or as an alternative to, the present framework of dispute resolution. The government’s package of reforms, including those relating to mediation, were withdrawn but the interest in mediation remains. This paper suggests that rather than creating a new industrial relations agency (the Mediation Adviser), making provision for mediation by Industrial Commissioners with the parties still able to choose private mediation if they wish would achieve the desired policy objectives.

This paper examines changes in the firm-size and industrial structure of the private Australian construction industry that have occurred over the last two decades and assesses their causes and implications. The primary data source is ABS Construction Censuses. There has been significant change in the structure of production in the construction industry with a large decline in firm size and rapid growth of output and employment in the specialist sub-contractors segment. These changes are explained largely as a result of increased subcontracting and outsourcing by larger firms to smaller firms. The changes in firm-size and industrial structure have had an adverse effect on construction productivity; OH&S performance; skilled trade shortages and expenditures on innovation and R&D in the industry.

The decentralisation of wage bargaining in Australia has led to a widening of the earnings gap. There has been talk of a new phenomenon of ‘working poverty’, where incomes in a significant number of households fall below the poverty line even when family members are in paid employment. This paper examines the growth of working poverty in Australia from the beginning of the 1980s to the mid-1990s. The analysis suggests that the phenomenon of working poverty is real and has been growing. Low pay on an hourly basis does not in itself equal poverty, and the biggest increase in family poverty has been among employees not in low pay. Yet the proportion of low-paid workers who are also in poor families has grown considerably. In the light of these findings the paper discusses the possible impact of policy approaches such as tax credits and higher minimum wages.