A survey result by the Bureau published this morning suggests that the participation rate significantly understates the number of Australians who could be enticed into the workforce if jobs were available
Labour market
Data fit for flaccid economy — wages, construction figures flat or falling
Wages and construction data out today don’t exactly suggest a vibrant economy or the need for a new round of IR reform.
It’s amateur hour at Tony’s house
Four days into the federal election campaign and IR is the topic of the day. But it seems that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his party have been caught on the hop, appearing like amateurs and willing to give up a generational-long commitment by the Liberal Party to labour market reform, writes Paul Kelly.
The American middle class – a thing of the past?
The middle class of America is apparently facing a slow and systematic decline. Need proof? Michael Snyder has 22 statistics to support the claim.
The blockage in our skilled migration pipeline
Tens of thousands of highly skilled would-be migrants are living in Australia, unable to contribute their skills to the country’s labour force due to bureaucracy and bad policy. The government happily accepts their application fees, but offers little in return.
Enough of the hysteria … refugees are good for us
Accepting more refugees and boat people into the country is one of the greatest contributions Australia can make to improving the world around us and enhancing our own living standards, writes Sinclair Davidson.
Political economy: underemployment — what does it mean?
Now its official — a staggering 14% (or so) of Australia’s workforce are unemployed or underemployed, writes Henry Thornton. What a huge waste of resources.
Rudd agenda backed by jobless stats
The Australian economy has again shown its resilience with the unemployment rate last month steady on 5.8%, where it has been since June.
The difficult job of job-creation
You can’t build new jobs on a rotten old framework, says Bill Fleckenstein. Until some structural repair is done, the US labour market will remain unstable.
He-cession: how the GFC is killing macho men
The era of male dominance in the workplace is coming to an end, with 80% of recent job losses in the US falling on men, and places like Russia and the Middle East full of “surly, lonely, and hard-drinking men”.
How hard is it to find a job in America?
One journo finds out, applying for 300 jobs… and getting eight interviews.
Our 5.7% jobless figure looks much nicer than the US 9.4%
The one point to be made with certainty from today’s jobless figures is that the Australian labour market is not as stricken by recession as America’s, or Europe’s, or Japan’s.
The labour market: from the dole queue to H-division
The burgeoning population of people incarcerated in the United States is a direct outcome of a fatally flawed labour market, argues John Quiggin.
Women could soon make up a majority of US labour force
For the first time in American history, women could very soon make up the majority of the US labour force.
Europe’s labour model weathers financial crisis
European policymakers can be a bit smug at the moment over a labour model that has seen smaller unemployment spikes and less drop-off in consumption.
Bureau of Statistics the victim of ALP cost-cutting
The ABS said in today’s April jobs figures that it is “facing a tight budget situation in 2008-09, writes Glenn Dyer.
Jobs market still buoyant despite slowdowns
No sign of any real deterioration in the Australian employment picture in April, writes Glenn Dyer.
Who else is bracing for the Centro fallout?
The effects of the fall in the Centro stock price and the general market instability are potentially quite widespread, says Richard Gibbs, Chief Economist at Macquarie Bank.
