Search Results

Demands for formal and informal child care are estimated using a bivariate Tobit model. Predicted costs of child care are incorporated in the households' budget constraint and a discrete choice labour supply model is estimated for couples and lone parents. Increases in the prices and costs of child care lead to reductions in labour supply for lone parents and partnered mothers. Results suggest the average elasticities in Australia are closer to those found in the UK and are smaller than the estimates for Canada and the US. Effects are stronger for single parents and mothers facing low wages.

Published abstract. Show less

This research uses the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to investigate the impacts of health on labour force status of older working-age Australian men. [The authors] estimate a model that exploits the longitudinal nature of the data and takes the correlation between the two error terms in the health and labour force status equations into account. The results show that controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and the correlation between the two equations is important. It is also found that any restriction on the correlation between the two equations appears to lead to underestimation of the direct health effects.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This study examines the effect of casual work in shortening the time taken to move from unemployment into permanent work using longitudinal data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns. The analysis is based on comparison of the transition rate from unemployment to permanent work with the combined transition rates of unemployment to casual work and casual work to permanent work. [The authors] use hazard rate models to estimate each of the transition rates. The models include observed and unobserved heterogeneity and allow for correlation between the transition rates. The evidence presented suggests that disadvantaged unemployed people can benefit from accepting casual work in their search for permanent work, although they are still less likely than others to obtain permanent work.

Published abstract. Show less

We study nurses' labour dynamics in light of continuing nurse shortages and the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic. Using Dutch monthly administrative microdata, all nursing-qualified persons observed in January 2016 and/or in January 2020 are compared and followed for one year before and three years after both baseline months. Compared to the 2016 Cohort, women and men in the 2020 Cohort who were employed in the healthcare sector at baseline were 0.3 and 1 percentage point more likely to have left employment; and, conditional on still being employed, 0.8 and 1.2 percentage points more likely to have left healthcare employment after three years. The 2020 Cohort women and men were also 1 and 1.7 percentage points more likely to transition from salaried employment to self-employment, and they reduced working hours by 0.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent more by December 2022. Except during COVID outbreaks, there is no higher inflow into healthcare employment by nursing-qualified women and men who were not employed in healthcare at baseline. Finally, other healthcare professionals fared better, with similar healthcare sector retention rates in 2019-2022 compared with 2015-2018. Overall, the pandemic accelerated nurse shortages through reduced retention and increased self-employment, and its impact is still felt at the end of 2022.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Female labour force participation has increased tremendously since World War II in developed countries. Prior research provides piecemeal evidence identifying some drivers of change but largely fails to present a consistent story. Using a rare combination of data and modelling capacity available in Australia, we develop a new decomposition approach to explain rising female labour force participation since the mid-1990s. The approach allows us to identify, for the first time, the role of tax and transfer policy reforms as well as three other factors that have been shown to matter by earlier studies. These are (i) changes in real wages, (ii) population composition changes, and (iii) changes in labour supply preference parameters. A key result is that - despite the ongoing emphasis of public policy on improved work incentives for women in Australia and elsewhere - changes in financial incentives due to tax and transfer policy reforms have contributed relatively little to achieve these large increases in participation. Instead, the other three factors drive the increased female labour force participation.

Published abstract. Show less

This report analyses data from the 2004 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS), the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia (HILDA) survey (2004 and 2008 waves) to examine the factors that affect labour force status (distinguishing four outcomes: not in labour force (NILF), unemployed, part-time employed and full-time employed, which are assumed to reflect an increasing attachment to the labour market) of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It then decomposes the gap in labour market attachment between the two populations into a component explained by observed characteristics and an unexplained component which could represent a range of things, such as unobserved characteristics, differences in the effect of observed characteristics, but also potentially discrimination. The report has four aims: (1) to identify the factors that play a role in the labour force status of Indigenous Australians; (2) to determine whether these factors differ from those affecting non-Indigenous Australians; (3) to determine whether the effects of these factors on participation and employment differ between these two populations; and (4) to determine how much of the difference in labour force status is explained by observed factors.

Excerpt from publication. Show less

Labour market experience is central to labour economics, however, it can be difficult to measure in cross-sectional surveys for groups who voluntarily or involuntarily spend prolonged periods outside the labour force (e.g. incarceration). This paper uses census data on the age profiles of employment since 1981 to estimate the experience that Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations could be expected to have conditional on their age. This estimate is then compared with survey information on experience to generate an estimate of inconsistency between measured and expected experience. The differential is very small for the non-Indigenous population, but survey estimates for Indigenous people are substantially higher than the relevant population-based estimates. It is possible that this finding reflects the fact that the composition of the Indigenous population has changed over time, differences in recall bias or even selective mortality with persons with a more substantial employment history surviving longer.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This study compares the educational, employment, health and partnership outcomes of teenage mothers with outcomes of women first giving birth in their 20s and those without children. The study finds that teenage motherhood has a range of negative effects, some of which worsen over time (e.g. educational outcomes) and others diminish over time (e.g. employment effects). Although some of the associations of teenage motherhood with poorer outcomes in the first years after birth are unlikely to be causal since they disappear after ensuring treatment and control group are comparable, other associations remain strong. Propensity score matching analysis suggests that relative to childless women: teenage mothers are less likely to complete Year 12, be employed, and be in good health; they are more likely to smoke; and have less personal income.

Published abstract. Show less

Many countries face a continuing shortage in nurses' labour supply. Previous research suggests that nurses respond only weakly to changes in wages. However, the decision to exit or enter the nursing profession has not been taken into account in previous studies, although the occupational choice may be more responsive to wages than the labour supply decision at the intensive margin. We estimate a multi-sector model of nursing qualification holders' labour supply in different occupations. A structural approach allows us to model the labour force participation decision, the occupational and shift-type choice, and the decision about hours worked as a joint outcome following from maximizing a utility function. Disutility from work is allowed to vary by occupation and also by shift type in the utility function. Furthermore, we allow the preference parameters in the utility function to vary by certain family characteristics and personality. This may be important because the high incidence of shift work, potentially impeding the balance of work and family life, and the high level of emotional and personal involvement required in the profession suggest that the labour supply of nurses might depend on their personality and their family circumstances. Our results suggest that average wage elasticities might be higher than previous research has found. This is mainly due to the effect of wages on the decision to enter or exit the profession, which was not included in the previous literature, rather than from its effect on increased working hours for those who already work in the profession. We find that the negative labour supply elasticities with respect to income are higher for nurses with children, while the positive elasticities with respect to wages are higher for low-qualified, older and childless nurses. Elasticities do not appear to vary by personality trait.

Published abstract. Show less

The first few months of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis have seen ups and downs in the labour market, with different trends observed in the various states, and some groups more affected than others. This paper highlights who, where and when people in Australia were most affected, and what the current situation looks like. It investigates the effects of the pandemic on women and men and explores these differences based on household composition. We also compare the effects of additional lockdown time on individuals' labour market outcomes by comparing Victoria to the rest of Australia. We use monthly labour force data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2020) to describe employment trends since the start of the pandemic.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less