Transition countries hoping to join the European Union are in the process of introducing western-type anti-discrimination policies aimed at reducing the gender wage gap. The efficacy of these policies depends on the relative size of the gap's elements they target; therefore, it is important to...

This paper compares the role of technological change with that of trade in explaining the increased demand for skilled workers. The paper shows technology has played the dominant role in changing employment patterns in Australia. The finding is consistent across industries, including those...

Examines the incidence and adjustment experiences of workers who are displaced by economic change. Since the mid-1970s, the aggregate annual rate of retrenchment has fluctuated in a counter-cyclical pattern around a relatively stable long-term trend of about 5 per cent. The paper shows that the...

„h Contrary to common perceptions, most Australian businesses survive for a considerable time ¡V for example, around two¡Vthirds of businesses are still operating after five years and almost one¡Vhalf are still operating after ten years. „h Around 7.5 per cent of businesses exit each year...

„h This paper presents the results of an exploratory analysis of industry change designed to shed light on the adjustment processes of Australian firms, and the impact of these adjustments on firm and industry labour productivity. The analysis is based on data for 1994-95 to 1997-98 for a...

This paper uses U.S. micro level data on employment durations to quantify the effect of potential Unemployment Insurance (UI) entitlement on job separations. Economic theory motivates estimation of a competing risk hazard model for quits and layoffs. The estimation procedure simultaneously...

Examines the limitations of statistics for the analysis of non- traditional employment. Particular attention is given to problems interpreting the measure of casual employees in data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Much of the discussion about non- traditional employment...

This paper highlights the social costs from non-price rationing of the labour force due to the minimum wage. By short-circuiting the ability of low reservation-wage workers to underbid high-reservation wage workers, the minimum wage interferes with the market's basic function of grouping the...

In theory, employees may secure lasting employment if they have worked a long time early in their careers. [JEL J64]

This paper considers a two-period optimal contracting model in which firms make new hires in the second period subject to the constraint that they cannot pay discriminate either against or in favor of the new hires. Under an assumption on the information available to workers, it is shown that...