Labour Economics and Social Policy:
Employment, Unemployment and Wages

Research in this area examines labour market outcomes in the economy, with a particular emphasis on the nature of employment arrangements and the distributions of employment and earnings.

Much of this research focuses on specific community groups, such as casual employees, persons with disabilities or couple households.

Projects completed in 2016

• The impact of Paid Parental Leave on labour supply and employment outcomes
• The wage elasticity of standard working hours and on-call working hours of doctors over the life-cycle

Projects completed in 2015

• A study into the persistence of living in a jobless household
• The impact of Paid Parental Leave rights on children’s health
• The labour force participation and income support duration of people with disability and a partial capacity to work (working paper)
• Low-paid women’s workforce participation decisions and pay equity

Projects completed in 2014

• Early impacts of the Victorian VET reforms on enrolments and graduate outcomes
• Labour force potential of Disability Support Pension recipients
• Review of Australia’s National Paid Parental Leave scheme
• The importance of economic expectations for retirement entry

Projects completed in 2013

• Graduate employment outcomes for international students
• Training and its impact on the casual employment experience
• The labour force participation and income support duration of people with disability and a partial capacity to work (report)
• Job retention and advancement of disadvantaged job-seekers
• Income support and in-payment incentives to work
• Outcomes of Jobs Education Training (JET) childcare fee assistance recipients

Projects completed in 2012

• Longitudinal analysis of employment outcomes for vulnerable and other migrants
• How does “poor” middle-years experience impact on youth outcomes?
• Studying beyond age 25: Who does it and what do they gain?
• The outcomes of early school leaving for disadvantaged students: The role of non-cognitive skills

Projects completed in 2011

• Employment retention in an economic downturn
• The effect of VET completion on the wages of young people
• To gain, retain and retrain: The role of post-school education for people with a disability
• Decomposing differences in labour force status between Indigenous Australians and the general population
• The role of VET-in-Schools in school completion and post-school outcomes
• Synthesis of Melbourne Institute research, 2005 to 2010
• Improving employment outcomes in early psychosis: Social and economic benefits of early intervention

Projects completed in 2010

• The role of vocational education and training in the labour market outcomes of people with disabilities
• The incidence and wage effects of overskilling among employed VET graduates
• Combining income support and earnings
• Annual transitions between labour market states for young Australians
• Successful and unsuccessful pathways to employment
• Dynamics of future mature age workforce participation
• The role of VET in preventing the scarring effect of youth joblessness
• Effects on labour supply, savings and welfare of the 2007 policy change to superannuation and age pensions

Projects completed in 2009

• Wage transitions of apprentices
• The education and employment outcomes of youth in school-to-work transition
• The factors that influence wage progression
• Mental health of the Australian working population
• Dynamics of household joblessness in Australia, 2001–2007
• Economic modelling of the nurses’ labour market in Australia
• The effects of the tax and social security system on labour supply and social welfare

Projects completed in 2008

• Location economics of income support recipients
• Teenage mothers’ income support, education and paid work
• Working credits – A low cost alternative to universal income tax credits?
• Incidence of work-related injury and illness and outcomes for specific groups of workers
• Pathways to higher pay
• Full-time work and single mothers
• Inter-generational correlation of labour market outcomes
• Link between changes in employment and changes in income support
• Human capital and the patterns of employment and welfare receipt
• Experimental evaluation of YP4 – Are ‘Joining Up’ services for homeless and jobless people a net benefit to society?
• Labour market transitions and dynamics in Australia: An analysis of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey

Projects completed in 2007

• The changing socio-demographic composition of poverty in Australia: 1982 to 2004
• Childcare demand and household labour supply after 2000
• Use of informal childcare and decisions on work by income support recipients
• Disability and employment in the Australian labour market
• Mature age employment and workplace strategy
• The dynamics of income support receipt among ‘new’ income support recipients
• Skill shortages and the absence of wage pressures
• Low pay dynamics: Do low paid jobs lead to increased earnings and lower welfare dependency over time?
• What determines how long women spend out of the labour force after the birth of a child?

Projects completed in 2006

• Labour force outcomes for the mature age population
• Income support spells initiated by unemployment: Commonalities and heterogeneities across population groups in duration and determination of duration
• Microsimulation policy modelling (care costs)
• Transitions from casual employment in Australia

Projects completed in 2005

• The causes of long-term income support receipt associated with unemployment
• Health status and labour force participation (Working Paper 04/2004, Working Paper 09/2005)
• Synthesis of Melbourne Institute research, 2000 to 2005
• The long-term impact of informal care giving on carers

Projects completed in 2004

• Jobless households in Australia: Incidence, characteristics and consequences
• Underemployment in Australia: Evidence from the HILDA Survey
• Job search of the unemployed – Descriptions and determinants
• Transitions to retirement – A review
• What happens to the human capital of the unemployed over time? An analysis of changes in marginal productivity and job-finding abilities
• Working hours and labour market transitions
• Family structure and work
• The Melbourne Institute analysis of the Australian Labor Party’s Tax and Family Benefits Package
• Who uses childcare?
• Effects of education, fertility and divorce on married women’s employment: Patterns past, present and future (Working Paper 23/2004)
• Experiences of the unemployed
• Explaining the decline in the male employment–population ratio in Australia between 1971 and 2001
• The consequences of long working hours
• Dimensions of poverty, disadvantage and low capabilities

Projects completed in 2003

• Structural analyses of duration dependence and persistence in job-offer arrival rates and wages
• Effects of family composition and worklessness on the distribution of income and expenditure (Working Paper 19/2003)
• Effects of the Working Nation social security reforms: A policy simulation using MITTS (Working Paper)
• The estimation of a New Zealand wage equation and labour supply model (Working Paper 13/2003, New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 03/13, New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 03/23)
• Non-standard employment and job satisfaction
• The characteristics of casual and fixed-term employment: Evidence from the HILDA Survey
• The effects of childcare costs on labour supply
• The impact of social policy initiatives on labour supply incentives: A review of the literature (Working Paper)

Projects completed in 2002

• Estimation of wage equations in Australia: Allowing for censored observation of labour supply (Working Paper 1, Working Paper 2, Working Paper 3, Working Paper 4)
• The growth of jobless households and the polarisation of employment in Australia (Working Paper 9/2002)
• Work and family directions in the US and Australia: A policy research agenda (Working Paper 12/2002)
• International comparison of trends in the polarisation of employment
• A policy simulation of aspects of the tax system using MITTS: Interim project (Working Paper 08/2002, Working Paper 24/2002, Working Paper 25/2002, Working Paper 26/2002)
• Labour market outcomes and welfare dependence of persons with disabilities in Australia
• Neighbourhood and family effects on employment and employment aspirations
• Working time preferences in couple households (HILDA)

Projects completed in 2001

• Microeconomics of Wage Flexibility and Price Expectations in Australia (Working Paper 23/2000, Working Paper 04/2001)
• Workless families in Australia