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Internal Labour Markets: Evidence From Two Large Australian Employers

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  • Andrew Seltzer
  • André Sammartino

Abstract

This paper examines internal labour markets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century using personnel records from the Union Bank of Australia and the Victorian Railways. Both employers hired young workers and offered them the possibility of very‐long‐term employment. Salaries were determined by impersonal rules, such as being attached to tenure and to position. Workers rarely received nominal pay cuts. This approach to human resources was designed to retain and motivate workers. We show that all of the classic features of internal labour markets used to describe American firms in the 1970s were present dating back to the Victorian period.

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  • Andrew Seltzer & André Sammartino, 2009. "Internal Labour Markets: Evidence From Two Large Australian Employers," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(2), pages 107-137, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:49:y:2009:i:2:p:107-137
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8446.2009.00252.x
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    1. Charles Fahey & André Sammartino, 2013. "Work and Wages at a Melbourne Factory, the Guest Biscuit Works 1870–1921," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 22-46, March.
    2. Dmytro Ostapenko & Diane Kirkby, 2022. "‘Australian sailors wanted’: Labour supply and Australian shipping, c. 1870–c. 1914," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 141-160, July.

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