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Employment Polarisation in Australia

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  • Peter Dawkins
  • Paul Gregg
  • Rosanna Scutella

Abstract

Whilst employment levels in Australia are healthy when compared to those twenty years ago, the available work has become increasingly polarised into either all-work or no-work households. This paper measures the extent of polarisation that has taken place in Australia since 1982 with a measure that accounts for changes in individual based employment and family structure. We find that employment growth over the period should have largely offset the effects of shifts in household composition towards more single-adult households. However, polarisation of employment across households means that there are around 3.3 percent more households with no earned income. We also find that couples with children have faced the bulk of this rising joblessness as a result of this polarisation. Exploration of wider shifts in employment away from less-educated men and toward prime-age better educated women explain about 40% of the adverse shift against couples with children. The increase in all-work households is confined to multi-adult households, again focused on families with children. Hence, there is a large shift in patterns of employment in households with children, away from a dominant single male earner model toward more dual-earner and no-earner households with children. This dramatic polarisation of work and incomes for families with children is likely to have consequence for welfare costs and child opportunities in the next generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Dawkins & Paul Gregg & Rosanna Scutella, 2002. "Employment Polarisation in Australia," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 02/050, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    • Handle: RePEc:bri:cmpowp:02/050
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. David Johnson & Roger Wilkins, 2003. "The Effects of Changes in Family Composition and Employment Patterns on the Distribution of Income in Australia: 1982 to 1997-1998," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    2. repec:lan:wpaper:3167 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Paul Gregg & Rosanna Scutella & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2010. "Reconciling workless measures at the individual and household level. Theory and evidence from the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain and Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 139-167, January.
    4. Deborah Cobb‐Clark & Chris Ryan & Robert Breunig, 2006. "A Couples‐Based Approach to the Problem of Workless Families," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(259), pages 428-444, December.
    5. Russell, Helen & Layte, Richard & Maitre, Bertrand & O'Connell, Philip J. & Whelan, Christopher T., 2004. "Work-Poor Households: The Welfare Implications of Changing Household Employment Patterns," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number PRS52, June.
    6. Colin Green, 2012. "Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 337-352, September.
    7. repec:lan:wpaper:3012 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:lan:wpaper:2918 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb & Rezida Zakirova, 2011. "Dynamics of Household Joblessness: Evidence from Australian Micro-Data 2001–2007," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2011n10, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Rosanna Scutella & Mark Wooden, 2006. "Effects of Household Joblessness on Subjective Well-Being," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2006n10, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    11. Scutella, Rosanna & Wooden, Mark, 2008. "The effects of household joblessness on mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 88-100, July.
    12. C Green, 2009. "Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain. The Effect of Informal Job Search Methods on Post-Displacement Outcomes," Working Papers 599230, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    13. Productivity Commission, 2002. "Independent review of the Job Network," Labor and Demography 0210002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Marloes Graaf-zijl & Brian Nolan, 2011. "GINI DP 5: Household Joblessness and its Impacts on Poverty and Deprivation in Europe," GINI Discussion Papers 5, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    15. M. D. R. Evans & Jonathan Kelley, 2004. "Effects of Family of Origin on Women’s and Men’s Workforce Involvement," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n25, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    polarisation; joblessness;

    JEL classification:

    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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