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This article focuses on the Australian federal government's industrial relations reform initiatives. Time and again the rhetoric surrounding its proposals invokes the mantra that increased freedom of choice is necessary because of changed economic demands. Considerable efforts are being made to limit the statutory or collective determination of substantive rights for individuals at work whilst giving workers and businesses more procedural choices. The preoccupation with increasing choices available to firms and individuals neglects the inequalities of bargaining power which undermines the substantive capacity of workers to exercise these choices. It is important to maximize freedom of choice, but genuine choice also requires effective public standards. The Coalition's reform package will erode key employment standards, enable growing numbers of employers to operate virtually devoid of minimum employment standards and inhibit the courts and tribunals from modernizing employment standards. In this way, the government clearly aims to engineer a decisive shift in the way rights and obligations at work are determined. The reform proposals represent another missed opportunity. There is no question Australian labor law needs modernizing to adjust to new types of work, market pressures and individual lifestyles. But these reforms perpetuate the unfortunate tendency to counterpose standards against flexibility.

This article considers long-standing grievances in teachers' labor markets regarding chronic shortages of qualified mathematics and science teachers and the loss of the best youth instructors from the teaching service in Australia. It is hard to refute assertions that there is and have been continual shortages in teachers for secondary school mathematics and science, and for all teachers in particular localized regions within Australia despite the evidence being somewhat ad hoc. Furthermore, there is informal evidence that the personal and more subjective professional qualities of individual teachers matter for pupil outcomes and therefore positive social gains can be made if these individuals are identified and kept in schools as instructors. Similar to other occupations, many factors that motivate graduates to enter the teaching profession and remain there are intrinsic in nature and not immediately amenable to manipulation by public policy. However, on both a priori and evidential grounds, it is argued that selectively enhancing the pay and conditions for teachers in scarce supply should increase supply and enhance the quality of teaching services to young people at school. To estimate which type of policy is most cost-effective from a government budget point of view requires a longitudinal survey of actual and potential teachers. Given the size of national education budgets this is likely to be a financially prudent undertaking. However, whichever policy is pursued, two enabling factors are required. First, school budgets should be increased to allow salary premiums to be paid and, second, teachers within schools should recognize and accept that in the interests of better educational services for young people, wage differentials between teachers need to change.

Does increasing the minimum wage lead to employment losses? For many years most economists thought that the answer to this was a straightforward ‘yes’. However, research during the 1990s began to overturn this conventional wisdom and showed that increases in the minimum wage did not automatically lead to employment losses. A recent Australian study, by Leigh (2003), examined the impact of statutory minimum wages in Western Australia and reached conclusions which supported the conventional view. However, close scrutiny of Leigh's article shows that it is fundamentally flawed. Despite Leigh's efforts, it remains the case that we simply do not know a great deal about the employment impact of Australia's system of minimum wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses long-term issues in superannuation in Australia. A major policy issue in developed economies is the aging of the population over the next 40 to 50 years. The projected increase in persons aged over 65 years is expected to raise government expenditure on pensions and health care substantially. Australia has adopted a policy of increasing the private provision of retirement income through a system of compulsory contribution by employees to superannuation. The Australian retirement system is based on a male retirement age of 65 years; this is the age at which males are eligible for the age pension. The age of eligibility for females is 62 years but it is scheduled to rise to 65 years. However, economic and social developments over the last two decades have caused the average retirement age for males to drop to 58 years, which means that government rules relating to access to superannuation and receipt of the age pension are not aligned. The Commonwealth Government's policy is to encourage private provision of retirement income through superannuation by providing taxation-advantaged vehicles while retaining the provision of a safety net through the age pension. The age pension is more than a safety net as it has certain characteristics which are highly desired by people.

Finding ways of curbing government expenditure on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) while maintaining social equity and access to essential’ medicines is at the centre of ongoing public debate. This article describes a microsimulation model of the PBS that simulates current and future use and costs of PBS medicines under existing and different PBS policy settings, and estimates the distributional effects of policy changes. The article outlines future developments that will extend the current model to include health outcomes. Adding health outcomes will enable the debate on PBS sustainability to be advanced beyond the prevailing cost-containment mentality to consider not only the costs of pharmaceutical use but also the benefits that result from the use of these medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the important debate over data quality and comparability by examining how aggregated data from the household income and expenditure surveys compare with external sources. It presents an overview of comparisons of aggregates derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics household income and expenditure surveys against external sources. The issues of quality and inter temporal comparability of the relevant survey data are not restricted to under-reporting of income in the latest surveys. These comparisons are started on the assumption that the data from these external sources are correct, although definitional differences are crucial to the comparisons. Comparisons with external aggregates suggest that subcategories of income in the household surveys vary in their quality. The article further identifies key areas of concern, as a precursor to trying to remove or reduce the impact of the underlying factors that give rise to them. While it is obviously desirable to quantify the effect of these issues on analyses of poverty and inequality. The article shows how well the survey aggregates match external aggregate data in order to make inferences about the quality.

Abstract This article reviews an index number framework that links changes in aggregate performance measures (such as profit, revenue, cost and total factor productivity) to changes in both the prices and quantities of key outputs and inputs. The framework provides a way of linking the aggregate performance measures to outcomes for individual customer groups, employees and owners of businesses. This information is useful to policy makers in evaluating the outcomes of economic reform, including the distributional consequences. It is also useful to regulators who need to understand and monitor both the consequences of their regulation and the response to their decisions by those being regulated. The article demonstrates that the logarithmic version of Fisher's Ideal index offers a useful way of integrating changes in profit, productivity and prices into a single analysis. The usefulness of the framework is illustrated by applying it to a data set for Australian National. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the economy–wide effects of fiscal policy and major features of public outlays, receipts and debt trends in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author commends Australia's employment services for the unemployed; however, he asserts that such efforts are not enough to reduce unemployment to levels observed in the 2001 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report. He contends that both Australian and American efforts toward privatizing employment services for the unemployed have had uncertain results in improving the quality of these services, and improved knowledge of program effectiveness is needed because even the most effective policies can have only a modest impact in reducing unemployment. He observes that by itself, active labor market policy may have little effect on reducing structural unemployment, but when such policy is closely integrated with income support policy, it can significantly change worker incentives to find and keep a job.

Soon after indigenous Australians were legislatively included in the social security system in 1959 and 1966, ideas about how this would undermine indigenous community life began to be voiced. In the 1970s, when unemployment payments, which became known as "sit down money," were gradually spreading into remote Aboriginal communities, ideas were produced for a more active alternative which would involve working for welfare. Such an alternative, known as the Community Development Employment Projects scheme, came to pass in a small number of remote Aboriginal communities from May 1977. The scheme proved immediately popular and led to concerted pressure for expansion to other Aboriginal communities.

This article focuses on the changes in the monetary policy of Australia and the U.S. for the period since 1985. The average number of weeks between policy changes was 8.9 weeks for the United States and 16.6 weeks for Australia. Australian monetary policy was changed less frequently than that of the United States. In the pre-announcement period the average number of weeks between policy changes for Australia was 10.7 compared with 5.2 weeks in the United States. In the announcement period the average number of weeks was 18.2 weeks for the United States and 26.6 weeks for Australia. Australian monetary policy has been changed less frequently than US monetary policy throughout the period, although the relative number of changes has dropped slightly in the post-1990 period.

This article focuses on the Australian population policy. Population policy is a policy for a very long term. As an example, one prepares for a large increase in the aged proportion of the population that will occur mainly between 2020 and 2040. Ageing is the product of relatively high birth rates from 1950 to 1970 followed by low birth rates since 1970. Hence, a policy issue in 2030 derives from births 70 years and more beforehand. If the first priority of a population policy has been achieved, the debate shifts back to a debate about population size.

A matching function approach is used to investigate the macroeconomic effects of labor market program (LMP) commencements on unemployment outflows in Australia using unpublished data that classify commencements and outflows by duration of unemployment The results indicate that LMPs have had significant effects on outflows from long-term unemployment However, the net impact of programs on these outflows suggests that the substitution and displacement effects associated with programs are high. These results are consistent with recent microeconomic research into the effects of LMP participation on individual transitions out of unemployment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the long-run and short-run behavior of public hospital average costs in two Australian States: Victoria and Queensland. Using adjusted weighted inlierequivalent separations as a measure of hospital output, and floor area as a measure of capacity, the study finds a hump- or '∩'-shaped long-run average cost curve at the 5 per cent significance level in both data sets. The study also finds a saucer- or '∪'-shaped relationship between capacity utilization and short-run average cost at the 5 per cent level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pricing of access to electricity transmission networks in Australia is currently under review. Several options have been proposed including those based on nodal pricing and the assignment of transmission rights contracts. As most of the marginal costs of transmission are recovered through wholesale electricity prices we focus on the key issue of regulation and investment incentives. We find that current options are unlikely to be adequate in terms of encouraging socially optimal levels and timing of new transmission investment. As an alternative, we propose a regulatory scheme, based on a related idea by Sappington and Sibley that can overcome this problem. Our scheme can potentially generate first best results and is readily applicable given the current institutional structure of electricity markets in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the June 2013 issue of "The Australian Economic Review" which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research."

This article presents an argument for creating a universal entitlement to aged care. Following the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, significant reform of Australia's aged care system is needed. The current policy of rationing care must end, because it leaves too many older Australians without the level of care they need. It should be replaced with an aged care system that is underpinned by an objective to support the rights of older Australians, including their right to independently assessed, government funded, reasonable and necessary needs‐based care. This more equitable approach will require a massive boost in government spending to ensure all older Australians get the care and support they need, when they need it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Commonwealth of Australia 2021) highlighted the challenges in developing a sustainable financing system for aged care in Australia. The report recommended additional funding both in the short term and longer term so as to provide an adequate level of aged care quality for older Australians, including exploring an actuarially based contributory social insurance scheme for aged care. Sustainable financing of aged care requires a balance between government tax‐based financing, individual contributions during working life through an aged care levy, copayments for aged care costs for those receiving aged care and means testing for these copayments. There should be a role for private market insurance and financing to supplement government financed aged care support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics provides a breakdown by industry of the revenue collected from each of the major indirect taxes in Australia. This information does not show who bears the ultimate burden of indirect tax as each industry may pass on its initial burden to others. Thus, the burden of the tax may be passed on round by round to indirect business purchases and final demand until the total burden of the tax is passed onto the final consumer. Using a method to derive final indirect tax incidence developed from earlier studies, the final incidence of a selection of indirect taxes in Australia is presented. The major innovation is to include the use of margin industries in the initial flows of the input-output matrix ensuring that taxes on inputs to margin services are fully passed forward onto the good or service that the consumer purchases. it is found that many goods and services that are initially exempt from the main indirect taxes, such as the wholesale sales tax, have significant effective tax rates once taxes on inputs to industry are taken into account [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate in Australia about youth wages and youth employment has been underway for a decade. It has generated much heat because no one in their right mind wants to do anything that would harm young people. Many critical aspects of the current situation need illumination, however, for a sensible reform path for youth wages to be found. On close inspection, the case for fundamental reform of youth minimum wage provisions is compelling. Virtually all nations have minimum wage laws. What distinguishes Australia is the system for setting minimum wages. Whereas other countries legislate minimum wage laws directly through parliament, in Australia these are set by independent industrial tribunals.

Junior rates involve a system of minimum wages, defined as a proportion of the adult minimum wage, with this proportion increasing with age until the junior worker is considered an adult at age 21. This system is perceived to be discriminatory, and it is this perception that has led to extensive debate as to the potential replacement of junior rates with an alternative system of minimum wage determination. The debate with regard to junior rates is of particular interest from a labour economics perspective as it brings together two very topical areas of ongoing research, that pertaining to minimum wages, and that to the youth labour market.

In June 1969 the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, acting on a claim from the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Unions began an important period in wage-setting in Australia. Prior to the Equal Pay Case for much of the twentieth century industrial tribunals in Australia had enforced a policy of wage discrimination against female workers. Changes to industrial relations legislation requiring equal pay for equal work were initially enacted by the states, beginning with the New South Wales Industrial Arbitration Act 1958. For workers covered by federal awards the principle of "equal pay for equal work" was adopted in 1969 in the decision, however, the terms of that decision meant that equal pay could only be implemented where "women did the same work as men and were likely to displace them." In 1972 the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission enlarged the concept of equal pay to encompass "equal pay for work of equal value."

The setting of monetary policy in Australia is guided by the inflation target-which is to keep the rate of inflation in the range of 2 to 3 per cent in the medium term. This article considers whether monetary policy can induce a permanent decrease in the rate of unemployment without violating the inflation target. The existence of customer markets will induce firms to allow their profit margins to fall and this will reduce the required fall in the real reference wage. Monetary policy should be exploratory in attempting "to find the bottom of the range of safe unemployment rates." The adoption of an explicit inflation target as an objective of monetary policy can enable monetary policy to yield better outcomes on unemployment. This is because the inflation target helps to anchor the expected rate of inflation. For wage and price setters the inflation target is a guide to the future rate of inflation. An exploratory policy may on average, over a sweep of years, cause the actual rate of inflation to exceed the expected rate of inflation. The price of low unemployment is eternal vigilance.

This article reports some of the results from a recent study which, among other things, developed and costed low cost budgets for a range of Australian households. A budget standard rep- resents what is needed, in terms of goods, services and activities, to achieve a particular standard of living and what that costs in a particular place and time. A low cost budget standard is one designed to meet basic needs at a frugal level while still allowing social and economic participation consistent with community expectations. The low cost budget standard estimates for households living in Sydney in February 1997 are somewhat higher than the Henderson poverty line, partly a reflection of the high cost of housing in Sydney, but also a consequence of the low cost standard itself being above a poverty standard. In spite of this, the budget standard relativities for different households provide an estimate of the relative needs of Australian households in the 1990s which could replace the current much-criticised equivalence scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inflationary surge of the 1970s and 1980s and the rising power of global financial interests have been two important factors in explaining a key shift in macroeconomic policy in western economies in the last two decades. In Australia, from the early 1990s, the Reserve Bank has guided short- to medium-term monetary policy by explicitly targeting an inflation rate of 2-3 per cent. The orthodox case against inflation is that it distorts the price mechanism and leads to uncertainty about future prices which in turn distorts investment decisions and leads to an inefficient allocation of resources within the economy. Unemployment rises at low rates of inflation. This is a permanent cost to pursuing low inflation. The employment losses are permanent because the churning of the economy always produces some firms that need to cut relative wages to preserve employment. Dissatisfaction with the pursuit of very low inflation in Australia has mainly emerged by way of sporadic complaints about deflationary policy by industry.

This article examines the impact of the elimination of x-inefficiency in the Australian electricity supply industry using a computable genera! equilibrium (CGE) model of the Australian economy. Data envelopment analysis and a stochastic production frontier model are applied to measure x-inefficiency in the electricity industry. The potential increase in total factor productivity resulting from microeconomic reform is introduced into the CGE model as a factor-augmenting technological change. The model is used to measure the macroeconomic effects of microeconomic reform of the electricity industry. The Monash model is also used to replicate the results of earlier studies by the Industry Commission (1995) and Quiggin (1997) and thereby to provide a basis for comparing the three sets of results. The results of the current study imply that the impact of microeconomic reform on economic growth could well be significant if only a small proportion of the benefits were to be reflected in terms of an increase in aggregate employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the major macroeconomic dimensions of migration and its economic consequences in Australia. Effects on growth; Effects on unemployment and training; Other economic effects.

Shows the importance of monitoring both the total factor productivity (TFP) and the financial performance of government trading enterprises in Australia. Range of performance measures; Link between TFP and financial performance; Information on TFP and financial performance of Australian National during the 1980s.

In recent years there has been growing concern about the work incentives implicit in Australia's current income tax and social security systems. This interest has stemmed largely from the growing complexity of the two systems over the last two decades. On the social security side, many new payments have been added and the income tests on existing payments have become more tightly targeted. The complexity of the tax and social security systems has brought to a head the debate on the reform of the two systems. Many of the new payments and taxes since the two earlier studies were undertaken have sudden-death income tests. The Maternity Allowance, the Family Tax Payment and the Medicare surcharge are some examples. While these payments and taxes influence a person's or family's disposable income, they do not influence their Effective marginal tax rates (EMTR). This is because of the nature of a sudden-death income test where a small increase in income that takes a family over a threshold results in the complete loss of a payment or a large increase in tax paid. In effect, sudden-death income tests have an infinite taper and generally there is no actual change in the EMTR when it takes effect. The sudden drop in disposable income when the income test takes effect can, however, result in a large disincentive for the family to increase their earned income to just over the threshold.

The interaction of the tax and social security systems, and especially the problem of high effective marginal tax rates, has become an important policy issue in Australia, that has led to proposals to reduce them from the major political parties in the 1998 Federal Election campaign. Taken as a whole the tax-transfer system is very complex and many low income families face very high effective marginal tax rates. Negative income tax involves rolling some or, in the extreme case, all social security benefits into the tax system. A radical negative income tax system replacing most or all social security payments with tax credits would be very expensive to introduce, without reducing benefit levels for some or imposing income tax rates that looked unacceptably high.

The undue complexity of the Australian tax- transfer system is outlined as are the associated high effective marginal tax rates for many individuals and families. A negative income tax system is a possible solution to these problems. The most radical version of negative income tax is a 'basic income/flat tax' system which combines universal tax credits (that vary according to presence of children, disability etc.) and a flat tar rate on private income. Using NATSEM's microsimulation model STINMOD it is found that to ensure that no current social security beneficiaries become worse off under such a system would either be very expensive to introduce or require a tax rate that is likely to be unacceptably high. Less radical versions of negative income tax are also costed, incorporating the possibility of varying tax rates, the tapering out of tax credits, and placing some restrictions on the granting of tax credits. This makes negative income tax look more feasible. The analysis does not incorporate behavioral responses. Since the motivation for a negative income tax system is largely to achieve such responses (for example, labor supply responses), this feasibility analysis might have been unduly harsh. Research is required to incorporate behavioral responses into the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the Olson hypothesis within the Australian context, which provides evidence to support the favourable impact of import protection on export orientation of the manufacturing sector in the country. Previous studies on protection and manufactured exports; Cointegration and unit root test results; Policy implications of the empirical results.

Reviews the development of open access and deregulation of trunk pipeline natural gas transportation in Australia and the United States. Institutional and theoretical background of Australian natural gas industry; Key factors in determining economies of scale in pipelines; Competition in pipeline natural gas transportation in North America; Primary goal of the National Third Party Access Code for Australian natural gas pipelines.

Presents information on a study which examined the combination of income and consumption taxes in Australia using a simple tax models. Introduction of a saving behaviour into the model; Role of exemptions; Results of the study; Conclusions.

The author reflects on research regarding water reform that was issued by the Australian Productivity Commission. Topics relating to water reform which were discussed in the research include the competition that exists for water in urban areas, trade between rural and urban areas and pricing. The impact that population growth and a drought have had on water issues in Australia is discussed.

Measures the impact of child care subsidies on the incomes of mothers returning to work in Australia. Child care subsidies as progressive; Contribution of the subsidies to horizontal and vertical equities; Benefits of the subsidies to parents.

Presents findings on a research on the social rate of return to apprenticeship training in Australia. Distribution of the costs of training; Contrast of the findings with the prediction of economic theory that trainees pay for general training; Reforms in the New Apprenticeship System.

Presents a study on the regional incomes for the period 1976-1991 in Australia based on the Australian census data. Theories and empirical evidence on regional income disparities; Analysis of the regional dispersion of per capita income; Findings revealing the growing equality of income distribution within states and statistical divisions.

Analyzes damage remedies for deceptive prospectuses in Australia. Impact of the laws addressing damages on incentive issuers; Proposal to shift from a strict liability regime to a due diligence regime; Comparison between the two regimes.

The states have increased their share of national revenue from about 16 per cent in the late 1980s to over 20 per cent. This shift may not have improved the efficiency of raising national taxation revenue. Eight taxes with total revenue in 1995-96 of $26.5 billion are considered. In order of revenue these are payroll tax, business franchise taxes, stamp duties, gambling taxes, government business enterprise taxes, financial institutions taxes, land tax and mineral taxes. Business franchise taxes fall on a few items of consumption that are already taxed heavily by the Commonwealth. Financial taxes and stamp duties are suspect because they are transactions taxes, not taxing economic activity directly. Two important state taxes-on payrolls and on land-have badly fractured bases. The pressure on the states to raise more revenue is continuing. In meeting their revenue requirements efficiently the short-term solution lies in substantial reforms of existing taxes, including repairing the bases of the payroll and land taxes, and removal or reduction of the least efficient ones. The longer term solution lies in the states having access to broader based taxes, particularly consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In conclusion, this paper has outlined how the 'Living Wage' claim is applied in terms of effective minimum award rates and safety net adjustments; the efficiency and equity grounds of the claim; and, how the claim is consistent with the current macroeconomic environment. It has been designed to ensure that the award system meets the needs of working families and remains relevant in the changing labour market of the 1990s. The claim provides the means for an equitable share of economic growth and productivity for low paid workers whilst meeting the overall economic requirements of sustainable low inflationary growth and an internationally competitive economy. Finally the claim will assist the nation's need for economic growth and social cohesion. The need for a community to meet both social equity and economic considerations was understood by both Adam Smith and Justice Higgins. The 'Living Wage' claim reflects and respects both those economic and social considerations in the contemporary Australian context of 1996-97. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the distributional effects of price changes in Australia over the period 1980 to 1995, using equivalent variations and equivalent incomes. The Linear Expenditure System is applied to each of a range of income groups rather than using a single set of parameters. The price changes are found to impose a relatively higher burden on lower income groups in some years, although in other years the higher income groups were affected relatively more. The distribution of equivalent incomes has the highest inequality in years of high overall inflation. However, the effects on inequality are low: the highest increase in inequality as a result of differential price changes is less than one per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian system of Commonwealth and State taxes is in need of comprehensive reform. It fails the criteria of neutrality, horizontal equity and simplicity, it is not as progressive as often thought, and the future revenue base is declining. Many of the problems stem from the absence of comprehensive tax bases as applied to income, expenditure and assets, and related choice options are subjected to very different effective tax burdens. Important choice options facing different effective tax rates include: work and leisure; consumption and saving; different saving and investment options; form of labour remuneration; different ways of production; the mix of goods and services produced and consumed; and, domestic or overseas location. A comprehensive income tax base is required, especially as applied to the taxation of capital income. The options of a nominal income, real income or expenditure base are explored. It is argued that reform of indirect taxes proceed along two lines. The general revenue raising purpose leads to a comprehensive base of final consumption expenditure at a single rate. Then, additional specific taxes for user pays purposes, for example for roads, and for externalities, for example tobacco, set at the supply cost or net externality would be applied. There are conflicting arguments for and against changing the tax mix away from income to expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the legislative reforms incorporating the Sex Discrimination Act and the Affirmative Action Act introduced during the 1980s. We utilise the Australian Bureau of Statistics Income Distribution Surveys 1981-82 and 1989-90 to reflect pre- and post-legislative reform. The article adopts the Brown, Moon and Zoloth (1980) methodology which treats both the wage and occupational status of the individual as endogenously determined. In the current context this is a particularly flexible framework allowing one to capture both the direct and indirect effects of the legislative reforms. The indirect effect refers to the narrowing of the gender wage gap associated with legislative manipulation of the male-female occupational distributions. The results contrast the slow convergence in the gender wage gap during the 1980s with the much faster pace of the 1970s. The article concludes that despite the focus of the 1980s legislation on employment equity, changes in the male-female occupational distribution over the period are small and the associated impact on gender wage convergence is also small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides an overview of the economy of Australia as of December 1996. National accounts; Progress of actual unemployment against the proposals of the 1993 Green Paper taskforce; Prices and earnings; National debt and productivity; International trade; Australian dollar movements.

This article, which explores various aspects of macroeconomic policy and employment growth, is prompted by the relative lack of attention given to these issues in the Green and White Papers on unemployment. The problem of hysteresis reinforces the generally recognised need to reduce the excessive volatility of output and employment growth in Australia. International comparisons presented in the article suggest that Australian output and employment growth have been more volatile than those of the three major OECD countries. Reduction in macroeconomic volatility requires more effective short-term demand management than we have had in the recent past, and in turn, means that we must know more about the strength and timing of the effects of major macroeconomic policy instruments on employment growth and unemployment. This article presents employment growth equations for Australia over the period 1979–93 which incorporate domestic macroeconomic policy effects as well as the influences of the international business cycle. We show that monetary and fiscal policy have had a significant impact on the evolution of employment in Australia and, in particular, that tight monetary and fiscal policy contributed substantially to the recession of 1990–92. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic growth over the past year has increased and inflation rates have remained low, Australia still has an unemployment rate of 9.5 per cent (July 1994). As the recent White Paper on employment (Working Nation 1994) and the 1994-95 Budget Statements (1994) have emphasised, the key task for the federal government over the rest of this decade is to develop policies to sustain economic growth at rates which are sufficient to reduce the rate of unemployment. Hence, the focus of this article is a discussion of policy for sustaining economic growth for the rest of the decade in Australia. The next section will briefly outline current economic conditions in Australia. Following there is a review of the nature of sustainable economic growth; this includes an explanation as to why sustainable economic growth is required and a discussion of the recently announced policies for achieving sustainable economic growth. With respect to policies the discussion will concentrate upon the federal government's employment policy statements and the 1994-95 federal Budget. There is also a brief discussion of New Growth Theory and the Asian growth experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the policy issues of the Australian Green Paper entitled 'Restoring Full Employment,' released by the Committee on Employment Opportunities in December 1983. Concept of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment; Effects of wage costs and labor skills on job expansion; Relationship between economic growth and unemployment rates.

Provides an analysis and summary of the Australian Green Paper entitled 'Restoring Full Employment,' released by the Committee on Employment Opportunities in December 1983. Definition of full employment; Proposals to increase the economic growth rate; Relationship between economic growth and unemployment rates.

Focuses on the income support arrangements proposals of the Australian Green Paper entitled 'Restoring Full Employment,' released by the Committee on Employment Opportunities in December 1983. Modification of the income test for single people; Individual entitlement to unemployment payments for some couples; Parenting allowance for spouses in low income families caring full-time for children.