Labour Markets (1 Viewer)

[Kieran95]

On a scale of 1-10, how decentralised would you say Australian labour markets are?

 

[MasonT]

I'd say ... 7 perhaps? We ARE a decentralised market, however the safety net and FWA are centralised functions... Just to make life more confusing -.-

 

[Kieran95]

Would you argue in an essay that in a sense Australia's decentralisation peaked in ~2008 but now we are gradually becoming closer towards centralisation?

 

[MasonT]

It's a good argument to use, but unless you have a specific economist that would make such claims I probably wouldn't. I would argue that neoliberal economists believe in no government intervention in a free market economy (and that microeconomic reforms are generally for the purpose of having less government intervention), however the goals (set by treasury) of population, productivity and participation (you could also research the Henrey Review) are good reasons in order to have a more centralised system. If you look at the aspects of government intervention, they tend to aim in increasing participation (through safety net and the BOOT) and productivity (resolving disputes through FWA and gaining skills through Job Services Australia)

 

[RishBonjour]

Make life easy for yourself and say its a "hybrid system" of wage determination, and it actually is, particularly under FWA.
And no, don't say it "peaked in 2008" , rather, just keep it low key and say, FWA has resulted in more regulations etc with BOOT test and all that, that should do it,
But also, don't blame australia's low productivity growth on FWA, markers will hate that, as it was only implemented in 2010 so our current productivity rates are not really a true reflection of its effectiveness.