Risk and return: housing tenure and labour market adjustment after employment loss in the automotive sector in Southern Adelaide

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between housing tenure and the propensity of displaced workers from the automotive sector to be employed one year to 18 months post-redundancy. It considers the ‘Oswald thesis’ that home ownership contributes to higher rates of unemployment in advanced economies and reviews this proposition using survey data from 314 households. The paper focuses on the experience of workers retrenched from the Lonsdale and Tonsley Park plants of Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd and, unlike some other research, finds general support for the Oswald thesis. It is suggested that a number of factors contribute to a lower rate of re-engagement with the formal labour market by home owners, including the absence of locally available employment, the high cost of transport to regions where employment is on offer and a strong sense of attachment to their region.