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The causes of increased earnings inequality: the international literature

This chapter places the Australian issue of rising income inequality in a broader context by reviewing the international literature on earnings inequality and highlighting the main facts about income inequality in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The dominant view emerging from the literature is that a shift has occurred in the demand for labour from unskilled to skilled workers which has led to skilled workers earning relatively higher incomes. This is based on the view that the growing demand for skilled labour is linked to the increasing use of new technology. Issues raised by this view are discussed as well as other explanations for increased earnings, such as skill oversupply and trading down and market imperfections.

This chapter places the Australian issue of rising income inequality in a broader context by reviewing the international ...  Show Full Abstract  

Authors: Sheehan, Peter
Date: 2001
Resource type: Book chapter
Subjects: Technology; Income; Industry;
Research; Employment show more

VITAL Object

Technology, skills and earnings inequality: a new approach to understanding the characteristics of jobs

O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is a database developed by a United States Department of Labour led consortium which provides detailed information on approximately 1120 occupations. This chapter provides a preliminary analysis designed to test the use of O*NET to examine the changing nature of employment activities in Australia and on the changing pattern of skill. The focus is on two particular issues: (1) whether the knowledge content of jobs is increasing, as is widely supposed, and if so whether it involves detailed specific knowledge or broadly based knowledge across a range of areas; and (2) the changing activities involved in work. A number of themes that emerged from the analysis are outlined in the conclusion.

O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is a database developed by a United States Department of Labour led consortium ...  Show Full Abstract  

Authors: Sheehan, Peter; Esposto, Alexis
Date: 2001
Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia
Resource type: Book chapter
Subjects: Labour market; Skills and knowledge; Outcomes;
Technology; Statistics; Career development; Income; Employment show more

VITAL Object

Work rich, work poor: inequality and economic change in Australia

Over the last 10 years, average real incomes have risen and property and share markets have been buoyant in Australia. However, at the same time, some individuals and families have experienced falling incomes and greater reliance on the social security system. This monograph is a study of this national paradox, focusing on jobs and earning and the increasing inequality in the Australian labour market. The chapters are: Inequality and economic change / Jeff Borland, Bob Gregory and Peter Sheehan; Family income inequality / Nick Pappas; The causes of increased earnings inequality: the international literature / Peter Sheehan; Immigrant employment and economic change in Australia / R. G. Gregory and Xin Meng; Wives and mothers: the labour-market experiences of immigrant women / Deborah A. Cobb-Clark and Marie D. Connolly; Low-paid employment in the Australian labour market, 1995-97 / Yvonne Dunlop; The polarisation of families / Andrew Burbidge and Peter Sheehan; Job stability and job security / Jeff Borland; Precarious employment and occupational change / Sally Weller and Michael Webber; Earnings inequality and skill / Nick Pappas; Technology, skills and earnings inequality: a new approach to understanding the characteristics of jobs / Peter Sheehan and Alexis Esposto.

Over the last 10 years, average real incomes have risen and property and share markets have been buoyant in Australia. ...  Show Full Abstract  

Authors: Borland, Jeff; Gregory, Bob; Sheehan, Peter
Corporate authors: Victoria University. Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES)
Date: 2001
Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia
Resource type: Book
Subjects: Technology; Equity; Labour market;
Skills and knowledge; Income; Employment; Economics; Migration; Career development; Gender; Culture show more

VITAL Object

Earnings inequality and skill

There is evidence to suggest that market inequality in Australia is growing, driven by growth in labour market inequality. This chapter reports on a study which had the following objectives: (1) to measure the change in earnings inequality over the 1990s; (2) to measure the level and change over time in occupational earnings inequality; and (3) to implement a new approach to explain earnings inequality which involves estimating the cognitive, interactive and motor skills of workers and the return to these skills and using the results to decompose growth in earnings inequality between changes in the distribution of and return to skill and other factors. It is based on the 1996 Income Distribution Survey undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the chapter is structured as follows: data used in the study is outlined; changes in individual and occupational earnings inequality in Australia is examined and the construction of labour skill indices is described; the return to skill is estimated for various years and the results are used to measure growth in skill-based earnings inequality; conclusions.

There is evidence to suggest that market inequality in Australia is growing, driven by growth in labour market inequality. ...  Show Full Abstract  

Authors: Pappas, Nick
Date: 2001
Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia
Resource type: Book chapter
Subjects: Skills and knowledge; Research; Employment;
Income show more

VITAL Object