Reshaping the Labour Market: Regulation, Efficiency and Equality in Australia

The outcomes of the labour market have become the major economic and social problems of OECD countries over the past decade. Inflation has virtually disappeared, material standards of living on average are high, but 35 million people remain unemployed, inequality of earnings is rising and the establishment of regular employment is increasingly difficult for young people. In this book, a team of leading economists take Australia as a case study in which to examine whether regulation of the labour market assists or detracts from the achievement of desirable labour market outcomes. Attention is focused especially on the provision of adequate incomes and jobs for low-skilled workers, because this is the area in which labour markets around the world, including Australia, have failed most seriously in the past two decades.