Reshaping the Labour Market

In this 2000 book, a team of leading commentators assess the workings of and prospects for the Australian labour market.

Reshaping the Labour Market is a provocative book that makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Australian labour market. Written in an accessible style and based on original research, this 2000 book will be of interest to readers in social policy, politics and political economy as well as labour market economists.The outcomes of the labour market were the major economic and social problems of OECD countries. Inflation virtually disappeared, material standards of living on average were high, but 35 million people remained unemployed, inequality of earnings was rising and the establishment of regular employment was increasingly difficult for young people. In this 2000 book, a team of leading economists take Australia as a case study in which to examine whether regulation of the labour market assists or detracts from the achievement of desirable labour market outcomes. Attention is focused especially on the provision of adequate incomes and jobs for low-skilled workers, because this is the area in which labour markets around the world, including Australia, have failed most seriously in the past.