The Global Financial Crisis: The Victims of the Recession

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the likely impacts of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis on the Australian labour market. We argue that the impact of the global crisis on the Australian economy is likely to be a continuing increase in unemployment and long term unemployment. The impact of the recession leads to a significant fall in GDP and GDP growth that would lead to a worsening of conditions of living for a large number of people. This increase in unemployment is likely to have significant long term impacts on the well being of Australian people in terms of prospects for employment in the future, on wages subsequent to finding work, on health, and on family relationships. We argue that besides the policies introduced to date in terms of loosening of monetary policy and the fiscal stimulus, we need to target policies towards the unemployed, especially the long term unemployed.