A Brief Overview of Unemployment in Australia

Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 24/97

Date: October 1997

Author(s):

Joanne Loundes

Abstract

Unemployment is arguably one of the most important policy issues this country is presently facing, with the unemployment rate not having fallen below 8 per cent at any stage of the most recent expansion phase. This paper presents a brief history of unemployment in Australia, examining various characteristics in detail. Specifically, it covers the issues of hidden unemployment, the underemployed and the long-term unemployed. The Australian experience is also put into an international context, comparing our recent unemployment performance with that of the OECD countries, and making a more detailed comparison with the United States and France.

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