Australian Labour Research Articles

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment situation and financial well-being of families with children in Austria: Evidence from the first ten months of the crisis

Objective: This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment situation of parents and in turn on the subjective financial well-being of families with children in Austria.
 Background: The pandemic had strong repercussions on the Austrian labour market. The short-time work (STW) programme covered a third of employees in the first half of 2020 and helped to maintain employment levels. We provide evidence on how an unprecedented labour market crisis of this sort and in particular the exceptionally wide use of STW had affected the employment situation of parents and the financial well-being of different types of families.
 Method: The study draws on register data and representative panel survey data. The latter cover 905 families with minor children and include information on the employment situation of parents and the financial well-being of families before crisis onset, three months and ten months after its onset.
 Results: Register data show that mothers were not more strongly affected by the labour market crisis of 2020 than childless women or fathers. According to survey data, about a third of couples with minor children experienced income losses. Despite the wide use of STW and government support to families, the share of families in financial difficulties has substantially increased, especially among those with many children and single parents, many of whom were at risk of poverty already before the crisis.
 Conclusion: Substantial shares of dual-earner families that had low poverty risks before the crisis were in financial difficulties in 2020. Potential spill-over effects of financial shocks on children are discussed.

Determinants of Migration Decisions of Asylum Seekers in Vienna

This study analyses the issues that refugees and asylum seekers face in Austria and the effects of their concentration in Vienna. We present an assessment of main difficulties and root causes for asylum seekers in Vienna. Data was collected via personal interviews and also supported by regional and European statistics. In total, 12 interviews with municipality representatives, NGOs, and migrants were conducted. Firstly, our study showed, that the asylum seekers face difficulties integrating into the Austrian labor market. Most refugee children do not have access to the compulsory education. It is argued that a more inclusive policy would improve the labor market efficiency in Austria. The anti-immigrant sentiment in Vienna played a crucial role in creating difficulties faced by migrants in the process of integration. Those who have been granted asylum in Vienna are not interested in moving to another country. This tendency is driven by the following factors: They consider Austria a safe country; they have already learned the language; they are overall satisfied.

“We will start building from that”: Social capital, social networks and African migrants’ job‐seeking experiences in Australia

AbstractThis article explores the job‐seeking experiences of Black African migrants in South Australia, focussing on the role played by social networks in labour market integration. While it has been long held that “who you know” matters when finding work, the quality and nature of interpersonal connections that can be put to use for job‐seeking purposes suggests that not all networks effectively leverage social capital when it comes to employment. This article argues that Africa‐born migrants in South Australia are a small, diverse population whose experiences of labour market integration are mediated by both reception (how they are received and perceived) and strategy and choice (decisions made by migrants themselves). There is evidence of these migrants’ evolving and expanding social networks; however, the strategy of building the “right” social networks only goes part‐way to addressing employment gaps, while racialised social hierarchies are embedded in the Australian labour market.

Investigating the Possibility of Suspending or Terminating a Strike on Account of Violent Conduct: Transplanting Lessons from Australia

South Africa has a history of violent industrial strikes, with authorities seemingly unable to exert control. The existing remedies in the form of an interdict and advisory arbitration awards do not appear to address violence during strikes. Violent and lengthy strikes affect members of the public and have long-term effects on the economy, resulting in loss of employment and poverty. Since South Africa does not have the legal mechanisms to deal with or curb violent strikes, this article submits that lessons could be drawn from foreign law on how to deal with these strikes. In this article, Australia is the foreign jurisdiction from which lessons are drawn. This article commences with a comparative analysis of industrial action between Australia and South Africa to answer the question of whether violent strike action is unique to South Africa. The article establishes that the Fair Works Commission (FWC): Australia’s National Workplace Relations Tribunal can suspend or terminate industrial action that is characterised by violence. It then suggests that part of Australian labour law could be transplanted into South African labour law to combat strike-related violence. The article suggests that the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) should be amended to include a provision that will empower the Labour Court to suspend or terminate industrial action once it turns violent, thus benefitting the economy and preventing job losses.

Meeting Halfway? The Moral Dilemma of Muslim Migrants Engaging in the Austrian Labor Market

Meeting Halfway? The Moral Dilemma of Muslim Migrants Engaging in the Austrian Labor Market

The Impact of the Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the Australian Labor Market

We examine whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the associated policy responses have aggravated gender inequality in the Australian labor market. Using quarterly data from the Australian Labour Force Survey between November 2019 and November 2021, we compare labor force outcomes before and during the outbreak. Our findings indicate that while women fared worse than men in the first few months of the pandemic, labor market recovery was much more rapid for women. By the end of the period, on most indicators, women’s position in the labor market had improved relative to that of men.

‘Australian sailors wanted’: Labour supply and Australian shipping, c. 1870–c. 1914

AbstractIn the pre‐1914 era Australia did not develop an ocean‐going merchant navy. The problem is well recognised in previous studies that assumed that it was high Australian wages that made the operational cost of deep‐sea vessels uncompetitive on a global scale. This article reconstructs historical shifts in the Australian market for a seagoing workforce and demonstrates there was low recruitment of Australian labour. Drawing on new sources and inspired by efficiency wage theory the article argues that it was this shortage of a domestic labour supply that constrained the development of a national deep‐sea shipping industry.

Conquering the labour market: the socioeconomic enablement of refugee women in Austria

Refugee women from the Near and Middle East face specific challenges when entering the Austrian labour market. Particularly gender-based factors, including care and reproductive work, exert pressure on these women and constitute major hurdles for successful entry into employment in Austria. Based on nine qualitative interviews with refugee women who swiftly gained entry to the labour market as well as ten qualitative interviews with experts from public and private support organisations, we investigate refugee women’s social and cultural capital as well as the individual agencies that foster paths into the labour market. We introduce the concept of enablement as the process of gathering the preconditions for overcoming the challenges that arise on that path. Finally, we illuminate the ways in which the three dimensions of individual, relational and institutional enablement interrelate and shape individual agency with regard to labour market integration.

COVID-19 and the Australian labour market: how did older Australians fare during 2020?

Background In analysing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market, attention has focussed on younger people, leaving a research gap when it comes to outcomes for older Australians aged 50 years or over, in terms of employment, unemployment, underemployment and hours worked.
 Aims To describe levels of labour force participation, unemployment, underemployment, and hours worked by older workers and job seekers during 2020.
 Data and methods Using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, we perform descriptive analyses of variations in labour market outcomes by geographic areas, public and private sector employment, industry of employment and demographic characteristics.
 Results Older employment fell in April but recovered by December. As the full-time share initially increased, average hours worked decreased due to reductions in hours offered to workers, increasing the underemployment rate. There was little recovery of employment in metropolitan Melbourne due to prolonged lockdown conditions. Of the largest industries, retail trade and manufacturing were worst affected.
 Conclusions By December 2020, employment levels for older workers in some sectors had recovered from the initial downturn caused by the pandemic. However, for older workers in some industries, there is a major concern about their potential for future employment.

Collective access to national courts for labour law and social policy disputes: Austria

With this paper we aimed to give an insight into Austria's labour and social security jurisdiction, notably into different forms of collective redress within this system. As the Austrian Labour and Social Courts Act provides for certain instruments of collective redress, the primary focus will be on those. The main drawback of those existing forms of collective action for labour law matters, however, is the lacking possibility for the single employee to enforce the respective judgement. Hence it can only serve as a legal test case. In that respect, instruments of Austria's general civil procedural law could present a practical alternative to the problem and thus the legal framework and ongoing academic debate about the application of those procedures is also a key part of the paper.

Is It ‘Dog Days’ for the Young in the Australian Labour Market?

AbstractFrom 2008–2019 there was a substantial deterioration in employment outcomes for the young (aged 15–24 years) in Australia. Their employment/population rate decreased by 4.3 percentage points, whereas for those aged 25 years and above it increased by 1 percentage point. We argue that the major cause was the young being ‘crowded out’ from employment due to an increase in labour market competition. Adjustment to increased competition also meant they were more likely to: be employed part‐time or long‐term unemployed; start their work careers in lower‐quality jobs; and need to compete for jobs through activities such as unpaid internships.

Participation, Unemployment, and Wages

AbstractThe HILDA Survey data have substantially deepened our understanding of the Australian labour force. In this article, we highlight key insights relating to: (1) labour force participation; (2) unemployment; and (3) wages. Using the panel structure of the data, along with the breadth of questions asked, researchers have been able to overcome econometric challenges and better understand how the Australian labour market operates. Much attention has also been directed towards understanding persistent labour market disadvantage and the long‐lasting impact it can have. Together, these studies provide a plethora of useful recommendations for shaping future social and economic policy.

Family events and new venture survival: effects of positive and negative affect on entrepreneurs

This paper investigates how family events impact founding entrepreneurs’ psychological affect during the new venture creation process and whether their ventures commenced before such events continue to be viable. We also explore the impact of the interaction of family events and overconfidence on new venture survival. We use panel data drawn from the Australian Household, Income and Labor Dynamics (HILDA) survey, focusing on non-venture related, family event-induced psychological affect that entrepreneurs may experience as a predictor of their new venture survival. Our accelerated failure time model results are consistent with past arguments in the social psychology literature, that ceteris parabis, positive events have a positive influence and negative events have a negative influence on survival. However, when entrepreneurial overconfidence is considered, although the interaction between negative family events and entrepreneur overconfidence spurs cautious behaviour to a small degree as anticipated, it is positive events interacting with overconfidence that makes the biggest impact (negative) on the new venture. The research contributes to our understanding of the embeddedness of family in the entrepreneurial process – specifically how major family events, such as the birth and death of a child and marriage and divorce, which seemingly have little or nothing to do with the new venture, can impact its survival. New founders experiencing a major family event(s) can be psychologically affected through their feelings, emotions and moods. The viability of the startups they helm depend on their ability to manage these stressors. It challenges past assumptions by revealing how positive family events can have comparatively greater negative impact on new venture survival than negative ones. Keywords: Family events; psychological affect; overconfidence; new venture survival; affect spin

The enduring myth of endemic age discrimination in the Australian labour market

AbstractIt has often been stated by older people's advocates that discrimination affecting older people is commonplace and ongoing in the Australian labour market. In this article, we contrast such rhetoric with a review of evidence from recent large-scale surveys which demonstrates that low and declining numbers of Australians experience age discrimination, while highlighting the complexity of the phenomenon. We identify the emergence of a fake ‘age’ advocacy that is acting to the detriment of an informed public discourse concerning issues of older workers’ employment. To counter this we propose five underlying principles for advocacy on ageing and work: countering myths concerning the extent and nature of age barriers in the labour market; avoiding and challenging the use of age stereotypes in making the business case for older workers’ employment; recognition that age interacts in complex ways with a range of other factors in determining people's experiences of the labour market; challenging public understanding that is grounded in the notion that generational conflict is inevitable; and discarding traditional notions of the lifecourse in order to overcome disjunctions and contradictions that hamper efforts to encourage and support longer working lives.

Housing wealth, mortgages and Australians’ labour force participation in later life

In the life cycle model of consumption and saving, homeownership is an important vehicle for horizontal redistribution. Households accumulate wealth in owner-occupied housing during working lives before benefiting from imputed rent streams in retirement. But in some countries housing wealth’s welfare role has broadened as owners increasingly use flexible mortgages to smooth consumption during working lives. One consequence is higher outstanding mortgages later in life, a burden exacerbated by high real house prices that compel home buyers to demand mortgages that are a growing multiple of their incomes. We investigate whether these developments are prompting longer working lives, an idea that is especially relevant in countries offering relatively low government pensions. Australia is one such country. We use the 2001–2017 panels of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to estimate hazard models of exits from the Australian labour force as workers approach pensionable age. We find that those with high outstanding mortgage debts are more likely to postpone retirement, as are those with relatively low amounts of private pension wealth. These results are stronger in urban housing markets, and especially among males.

The steady progress of Non-English-Speaking migrant women’s labour market participation in Australia

This study deals with the labour force participation of Non-English-Speaking migrant women and draws a comparison with that of Australian-born women, using the 2016 Australian Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) Microdata based on a 1% sample from the Australian 2016 Census. A general probit model is used to estimate the probability of labour market participation of both groups, as well as for each of the groups separately, attributable to various factors. The results suggest that the participation rate of Non-English-Speaking migrant women (58.9%) is increasing over time, but is still much lower than for Australian-born women (69.5%), with the gap narrowing over time. Further, it also shows a reduced chance of participation in the labour market when they are old, married, and have children. However, Non-English-Speaking migrant women are more likely to participate than Australian-born women when they are old, married, and have children due to economic needs. Providing excellent English, education, recognition of overseas qualifications and experiences together with easy access to childcare might help Non-English-Speaking migrant women to further increase their chance of participation in the Australian labour market.

Rebuilding worker power in Australia through multi-employer bargaining

ABSTRACT The Australian Council of Trade Union’s Change the Rules campaign from 2017 to 2019 demanded enterprise bargaining be redesigned to fit the modern world of work. Unions argued collective bargaining should not be limited to the outdated framework of the ‘enterprise’. Workers should be able to bargain with the host business in labour hire; with franchisors; with lead businesses in supply chains; and across industries. In this article, we undertake a preliminary analysis of the key issues for consideration in designing multi-employer bargaining in the Australian context. We review the United Workers Union’s experience in whole-of-supply-chain bargaining through its Fresh Food Campaign, and draw upon recent proposals for multi-employer bargaining from the UK Institute of Employment Rights, and the Harvard ‘Clean Slate’ Project in the USA. We examine the shape of worker bargaining units for purposes of multi-employer bargaining; employee support thresholds; the permitted scope of bargaining; and the legal effect of multi-employer agreements. While its precise shape requires much further consideration, the case for implementing this change in Australian labour law is even stronger in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: not only to boost workers’ economic power, but to ensure they have control over the safety of their work.

Values, Partisan Interest, and the Voting Age: Lessons from Australia

The decline in youth participation in elections has been an ongoing concern in Australia, in spite of the requirement for compulsory turnout. In 2018, and in response to these concerns, the Australian parliament debated an electoral amendment that would lower the national voting age to 16 years. The Bill, however, did not succeed even though two opposition parties—the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens—supported the reform and the Morrison Government accepted the premise that youth electoral disengagement was a troubling phenomenon. Drawing on veto player theory, this article examines how the legislative dynamics intersected with partisan self‐interest and party value priorities to undercut the case for lowering the voting age to 16. The Australian case highlights the ways in which latent ideological differences among parties can serve to divide them on the inclusiveness of franchise, and the democratic goals to be served by voting.Related ArticlesCormack, Lindsey. 2019. “Leveraging Peer‐to‐Peer Connections to Increase Voter Participation in Local Elections.” Politics & Policy 47 (2): 248‐266. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12297Fisher, Patrick. 2020. “Generational Replacement and the Impending Transformation of the American Electorate.” Politics & Policy 48 (1): 38‐68. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12340Ike, Vivian. 2020. “The Impact of Veto Players on Incremental and Drastic Policy Making: Australia's Carbon tax Policy and its Repeal.” Politics & Policy 48 (2): 232‐264. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12346

JobKeeper: The Australian Short‐Time Work Program

AbstractJobKeeper is a short‐time work subsidy implemented between March 2020 and March 2021 in Australia during the COVID‐19 pandemic to reinforce the resilience of the labour market. As a job retention (JR) program, JobKeeper supports businesses, protects jobs and employment relationships and secures income of Australian workers. Drawing on microeconomic and macroeconomic evaluations of the JR programs published in other countries in a pre‐pandemic period, this paper studies how the generosity, responsiveness, governance and eligibility criteria of JobKeeper may shape its efficiency and equity. We show that expected benefits of JobKeeper may be limited by some negative economic effects of short‐time work subsidies. Locking employees in their current position potentially crowds out more efficient matches on the labour market. These displacement effects may slow down economic recovery. As a wage subsidy, JobKeeper distorts the relative wage and employment prospects between eligible and non‐eligible workers. These substitution effects can increase the dualization of the Australian labour market and institutionalise lay‐offs inequities for workers holding a temporary visa. Finally, we argue that subsidies for part‐time work also generate incentives for working time reorganisations that should be evaluated.

The Radical Arm of the Welfare Lobby: A History of the Victorian Coalition Against Poverty and Unemployment, 1980–91

Australia has had high levels of unemployment since the mid-1970s, particularly from approximately 1976-94, yet to date there has been no significant study of political activism by the unemployed in the modern era. This article fills some of this knowledge gap by examining the activities of the Victorian Coalition against Poverty and Unemployment (CAPU), an activist group based on an alliance of trade unions, churches, community groups and the unemployed. Whilst CAPU was influenced by conventional Marxist critiques of the welfare state and highly critical of both the professional social welfare sector and the Australian Labor Party, it also worked co-operatively with key community welfare groups such as the Victorian Council of Social Service and the Brotherhood of St Laurence on specific campaigns. Consequently, it is argued that CAPU was not an anti-welfare organisation per se, but rather acted as the radical arm of the welfare lobby seeking to shame governments into operationalising in practice their declared social justice principles.