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Exploratory research into government regulation's impact on business-level employment growth

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce Cunningham

    (Department of Employment)

  • Leon Colombo

    (Department of Employment)

  • Ulises Garcia

    (Department of Employment)

Abstract

Part of recent structural reforms of the Australian economy is a determination to reduce any excessive regulatory burden on businesses. Previous research has shown that the regulatory burden may adversely impact employment growth; however little empirical research has been conducted on the Australian context. This research, using the Australian Business Statistics Business Longitudinal Database, finds mixed evidence for the impact of government regulation on employment. While no significant impact is found for job creation, this paper finds that government regulation has a disproportionate effect on job destruction for firms aged five years or less. For firms that report government regulation as a barrier to performance, the odds of a younger firm reporting job destruction are more than two times greater than for other firms. Given the dataset used, these findings mainly refer to small and medium sized businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Cunningham & Leon Colombo & Ulises Garcia, 2015. "Exploratory research into government regulation's impact on business-level employment growth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(3), pages 375-390.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:18:y:2015:i:3:p:375-390
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government regulation; employment growth; job creation; job destruction; Australia; small business;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;

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