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Underemployment among Mature-Age Workers in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Jinjing Li
  • Alan Duncan
  • Riyana Miranti

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecor12219-abs-0001"> Underemployment is a serious and pervasive problem both in terms of its impact on those individuals affected, and for the economy as a whole. Underemployment is associated with job insecurity, increased casualisation and lower savings, and from a macroeconomic standpoint, underemployment is a signal of inefficiency in the utilisation of skilled labour. This article explores the patterns of underemployment for mature-age workers in Australia, a group for whom the prevalence of long spells of underemployment is especially marked. The research uses a 12-year panel dataset to analyse factors that contribute to a heightened risk of underemployment. Significant path dependency is revealed, whereby previous periods of underemployment increase the propensity towards further underemployment in the current period. Interestingly, most demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, except for the presence of older dependent children and a non-English-speaking foreign-born background for women, tend not to have any direct impact on the propensity for underemployment. These findings suggest the need for targeted interventions to triage these barriers aimed at highlighting the role of improved labour market attachment in promoting the well-being and economic contribution of mature-age workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinjing Li & Alan Duncan & Riyana Miranti, 2015. "Underemployment among Mature-Age Workers in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(295), pages 438-462, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:91:y:2015:i:295:p:438-462
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecor.2015.91.issue-295
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Coelli & Domenico Tabasso, 2019. "Where are the returns to lifelong learning?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 205-237, July.
    2. Lim, Eunjung, 2016. "Multilateral approach to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in Asia-Pacific?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 158-164.
    3. T. Kifle & P. Kler & S. Shankar, 2017. "Underemployment and its impact on job satisfaction: An Australian study on part-time employment," Discussion Papers in Economics economics:201712, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    4. Lampel, Joseph & Bhalla, Ajay & Jha, Pushkar P., 2014. "Does governance confer organisational resilience? Evidence from UK employee owned businesses," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 66-72.
    5. Azad, A.K. & Rasul, M.G. & Khan, M.M.K. & Sharma, Subhash C. & Mofijur, M. & Bhuiya, M.M.K., 2016. "Prospects, feedstocks and challenges of biodiesel production from beauty leaf oil and castor oil: A nonedible oil sources in Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 302-318.
    6. T. Kifle & P. Kler & S. Shankar, 2019. "The Underemployment-Job Satisfaction Nexus: A Study of Part-Time Employment in Australia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 233-249, May.
    7. Parvinder Kler & Azhar Hussain Potia & Sriram Shankar, 2018. "Underemployment in Australia: a panel investigation," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 24-28, January.
    8. Miranti, Riyana & Li, Jinjing, 2020. "Working hours mismatch, job strain and mental health among mature age workers in Australia," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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