The Committee on Employment Opportunities viewed temporary wage subsidies as a means through which the current long-term unemployed could be brought back into the effective labour supply. Experience with wage subsidies suggests that they will lead to minimal job creation and a churning of the pool of unemployment.

The problem of long-term unemployment has, at last, taken centre stage in the policy debate with the publication of the Green Paper Restoring Full Employment. While economic growth will reduce the general level of unemployment, to return the long-term unemployed to work will require increased training and reduction of labour costs. More recently the concept of a ‘training wage’ whereby employers would be allowed to pay below the current award wage to previously long-term unemployed has received some support. The Green Paper did not give much attention to training wages, preferring instead to focus on wage subsidies. In this paper the case for wage adjustments is discussed and evaluated.

There has been an increase in the rate of youth unemployment since the 1960s. Initially this increase was masked by the increased number staying on in the education system and the resultant drop in the participation rate for the under 20 age group. It is contended that the compression of youth/adult wage relativities since the 1970s has affected both the demand and supply for young workers. Demand has dropped since the experience premium attached to adult wages has been reduced. In the context of unemployed adult workers, the latter will be preferred to younger workers and new entrants to the labour market. On the supply side increased relative wages have induced more young workers into the labour force, increased the participation rate for this age group, and thus further increased the rate of unemployment. The persistence of this problem over time has given rise to relatively high levels of long-term youth unemployment Policy options to remedy this social and economic problem are necessarily constrained. On the industrial relations front a constraint is trade union antipathy to youth wage reduction policies which could give rise to generalised wage reductions. This paper proposes the extension of the special provisions of awards which permit for reduced payments as a means of assuaging union concerns.

The premise of this paper is that when long-term unemployment reaches very high levels, increasingly costly forms of assistance, like job creation have to be used to redress the disadvantage the long-term unemployed encounter. It then goes on to argue that effective job creation requires a new institutional framework, regional or local employment boards formed by local business and community organisations. Such an institution is well placed to satisfy the many conflicting objectives of job creation, and would ensure the public funds are used imaginatively to the benefit of both the unemployed and the community as a whole.

Analysis suggests that the higher the replacement ratio, that is the level of unemployment benefit relative to average earnings, the higher the level of unemployment is likely to be. This effect comes about in two main ways. The replacement ratio will influence both the rate of inflow into unemployment and the period for which people remain unemployed. The empirical evidence supports these propositions although the sensitivity of unemployment to changes in the replacement ratio is fairly weak. In the light of equity considerations reducing unemployment benefits as a policy weapon to counteract unemployment is thus not a viable option. Changing the rules relating to part-time earnings and unemployment benefit however could reduce long-term unemployment.

A number of well-publicised submissions advocating a ‘Job Creation Levy’ were made to the Committee. In its report, however, the Committee is lukewarm in relation to this option. The case for a levy in the form of an income tax surcharge can be made in terms of conventional welfare economics criteria and considerations of equity. The main case against the levy is that it will merely reshuffle the dole queue and, at the same time, create ‘artificial’ jobs at the expense of ‘real’ jobs. Moreover, there may be some undesirable implications for aggregate labour supply.

This paper outlines some of the deficiencies in the research evidence upon which we were able to draw in putting together the Western Australian Labour Market Research Centre’s submission to the Committee on Employment Opportunities, and some further deficiencies that have become evident from reading the Green Paper. Consequently some suggestions are made about further research needs. Broadly speaking, there are four types of research that appear to be necessary. Firstly, there is research which seeks to monitor and evaluate the specific effects of specific policies, such as those that are expected to result from the proposed Job Compact. Secondly, there is the more general research agenda on the operation of labour markets in Australia, which help to shed light on issues of relevance to policy decisions. Thirdly, there is a broader research agenda on issues associated with productivity, competitiveness and economic growth, bearing in mind the importance of a substantial and sustained increase in the underlying rate of economic growth. Finally, there is research which would improve our ability to undertake valuable future orientated scenario modelling simulations.

This paper is a selective review of recent Australian research upon enterprise bargaining and workplace industrial relations. It begins with a discussion of data collection methods, pointing out some strengths and weaknesses of survey, case study, and agreement text analysis methods. It then focusses upon two substantive issues to test the success of research. The first concerns the infrastructure for enterprise bargaining. Our conclusion is that research illuminates this topic, and reveals general unreadiness. The second issue is productivity performance and enterprise bargaining. We are far more sceptical that research has proved a relation between the two. We conclude with the observation that researchers may be on the wrong track if they try to quantify the effects of enterprise bargaining on productivity performance. The paper recommends that greater attention be given to change management programmes designed to increase competitiveness, and to the outcomes sought from these, rather than to productivity.

Most studies of the role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have argued that the peak-council has traditionally had little if any authority over its affiliates. This paper contends that this situation changed during the 1980s and that the ACTU achieved a significant degree of internal union authority. Examples of such authority are documented and the combination of external factors, such as the political and economic environment, and internal factors, such as leadership and reduced factionalism, that contributed to this growth of authority are analysed.

This paper examines new forms of work organisation which may emerge in the coming decade, as the distinction between white and blue collar work fades and occupational status is defined more in terms of skills and knowledge. Demarcation barriers between skilled and unskilled work, trades and professions will become less relevant as multiskilling and inter-changeability of personnel becomes a requirement in most organisations. The proportion of self employed in the workforce will also increase and most people will work on contracts rather than be guaranteed long-term employment with one organisation. Few people will pursue the same occupation throughout their working lives. Retraining will become a constant requirement to ensure that skills remain relevant. While the latest technologies will continue to be used in order to maintain a high standard of living, there will be pressures on industry and governments to retain some labour intensive forms of work in order to contain levels of unemployment. Three possible scenarios are presented for the future of work in the twenty-first century.

Since the Australian union movement’s representational peak in the mid 1970s, the industrial, economic and political landscape has considerably changed While the election of the Hawke Government in 1983 provided much cause for optimism among the union movement, the experience of the 1980s decade has proven to be cathartic. This paper examines the union movement’s response to the changes of 1980s; examines the development of the Accord and details the ongoing implementation of strategies for its restructuring.

Australia, and before Federation, the colonies, have long histories of tariff protection. However, by the end of this century tariffs for imports of most commodities will have been lowered to negligible levels. This paper briefly examines the history of the tariff and the changing structure of assistance to manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s. As the tariff has been dismantled, a variety of alternative measures have been implemented. Thus, while the ‘old’ protectionism of tariffs on imports has been discredited, a ‘new’ form of protectionism — much to do with providing assistance for exports — has arisen to at least partially take its place. The protective effects of many of these measures is far less apparent and possibly more deleterious than the tariffs they replace.