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Unemployment and Skills in Australia

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Author Info
James Vickery (Reserve Bank of Australia)

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Abstract

In Australia, as in many other countries, labour-market groups with higher skill levels generally enjoy lower unemployment rates. This paper investigates why this might be the case, whether this is a recent phenomenon, and whether declining demand for unskilled labour, perhaps coupled with wage inflexibility, is an important explanation for the observed increase in the Australian unemployment rate over the past three decades. We find that relative demand shifts towards skilled labour are not an important determinant of the increase in overall unemployment. The shift in demand towards skilled labour has been matched by an equivalent shift in labour supply, leaving the structure of relative unemployment rates across skill groups fairly stable. Unemployment of both skilled and unskilled labour has increased, but this appears to be for reasons unrelated to relative demand shifts across skill groups. We also discuss possible reasons for the pervasively higher unemployment rates of less-skilled workers, drawing on data on individuals from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns (SEUP). We find that the high unskilled unemployment rate is associated with a higher exit probability from employment relative to skilled workers (a high ‘separation rate’), and a lower probability of finding employment from non-employment (a low ‘matching rate’).

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Paper provided by Reserve Bank of Australia in its series RBA Research Discussion Papers with number rdp1999-12.

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Date of creation: Dec 1999
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Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp1999-12

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Related research
Keywords: unemployment; skills;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 1998. "The Origins Of Technology-Skill Complementarity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(3), pages 693-732, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Griliches, Zvi, 1969. "Capital-Skill Complementarity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(4), pages 465-68, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Nickell, Stephen & Bell, Brian, 1995. "The Collapse in Demand for the Unskilled and Unemployment across the OECD," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 40-62, Spring.
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  7. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Borland, J., 1998. "Earnings Inequality in Australia: Changes, Causes and Consequences," CEPR Discussion Papers 390, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
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  16. Freeman, Richard B, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  19. Guy Debelle & Troy Swann, 1998. "Stylised Facts of the Australian Labour Market," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9804, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  20. Lawrence F Katz, 1998. "Reflections on US Labour Market Performance," RBA Annual Conference Volume, in: Guy Debelle & Jeff Borland (ed.), Unemployment and the Australian Labour Market Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
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  24. Pissarides, Christopher A, 1994. "Search Unemployment with On-the-Job Search," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 457-75, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Giuseppe Bertola & Andrea Ichino, 1995. "Wage Inequality and Unemployment: United States versus Europe," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1995, Volume 10, pages 13-66 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anh Le & Paul Miller, 2004. "School-leaving Decisions in Australia: A Cohort Analysis," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 39-65, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Jeff Borland, 2000. "Disaggregated Models of Unemployment in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2000n16, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  3. Elizabeth Webster & Lei Lei Song, 2001. "How Segmented Are Skilled and Unskilled Labour Markets: The Case of Beveridge Curves," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2001n14, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Peter Dawkins, 2000. "The Australian Labour Market in the 1990s," RBA Annual Conference Volume, in: David Gruen & Sona Shrestha (ed.), The Australian Economy in the 1990s Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
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