ABSTRACT
This article provides a framework for thinking about labour supply policy in Australia. Several major future challenges for labour supply are identified and the main types of policies that can be used by government to deal with those challenges are described. Recent developments for groups likely to feature in discussions about increasing labour supply are briefly reviewed.
ABSTRACT
Scarring occurs when an adverse experience for a worker - associated with macroeconomic conditions - has negative long-term impacts on their labour market outcomes. For example, a worker who is entering the labour market during a macroeconomic downturn may experience a spell of unemployment or have to take a job for which they are over-qualified - and those experiences then affect the worker's labour market outcomes in future years. Recent studies find that scarring effects are substantial: for example, the main Australian study on scarring finds that graduates entering the labour market at a time when the youth rate of unemployment rate is 5 ppts above average lowers annual earnings of graduates by about 8 per cent at the time of entry and by 3.5 per cent after five years. This article reviews Australian and international evidence on scarring;and provides an overview of the main channels through which scarring occurs.
ABSTRACT
Abstract From March to June 2020 was the most dramatic four months in the history of the Australian labour market. Never before has a such a substantial decrease in labour demand (and partial reversal) occurred so quickly. In this article, we present an overview of the early impact of COVID-19: the main drivers it brought into play and the consequent labour market developments. Aggregate effects and how impacts differed by type of job and worker are described. We conclude with a brief review of the main government response to COVID-19, the JobKeeper program.