IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v45y2008i5-6p1193-1216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labour Underutilisation in Metropolitan Labour Markets in Australia: Individual Characteristics, Personal Circumstances and Local Labour Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Scott Baum

    (Urban Research Program, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland, 4111, Australia, s.baum@griffith.edu.au)

  • Anthea Bill

    (Centre of Full Employment and Equity, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, anthea.bill@newcastle.edu.au)

  • William Mitchell

    (Centre of Full Employment and Equity, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, bill.mitchell@newcastle.edu.au)

Abstract

There has been a growing awareness that the issue of labour market disadvantage is substantially greater than merely considering unemployment and the ability to find a job. There is an increasing literature that points to the advantages of considering a broader concept which accounts not only for those people who are traditionally unemployed, but also for individuals who are underemployed and those who are sub-unemployed or discouraged workers. Taking multidimensional survey and census data for Australian metropolitan regions, this paper applies a broad employability framework to an understanding of labour underutilisation which presents the risk of underutilisation as a function of individual characteristics, personal circumstances and the impact of local labour market characteristics. The analysis finds that the risk of labour underutilisation is associated with a range of individual characteristics and personal circumstances together with the characteristics of the metropolitan local labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Baum & Anthea Bill & William Mitchell, 2008. "Labour Underutilisation in Metropolitan Labour Markets in Australia: Individual Characteristics, Personal Circumstances and Local Labour Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(5-6), pages 1193-1216, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:5-6:p:1193-1216
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098008089865
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098008089865
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098008089865?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald W. McQuaid & Colin Lindsay, 2005. "The Concept of Employability," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 197-219, February.
    2. Mark N. Harris, 1996. "Modelling the Probability of Youth Unemployment in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 72(217), pages 118-129, June.
    3. Ernest Preston Goss & Chris Paul & Al Wilhite, 1994. "Duration Of Unemployment: Geographic Mobility And Selectivity Bias," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 24(2), pages 127-142, Fall.
    4. Bartik, Timothy J., 1996. "The Distributional Effects of Local Labor Demand and Industrial Mix: Estimates Using Individual Panel Data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 150-178, September.
    5. Ivan Turok & David Webster, 1998. "The New Deal," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 12(4), pages 309-328, February.
    6. Gordon F. De Jong & Anna B. Madamba, 2001. "A Double Disadvantage? Minority Group, Immigrant Status, and Underemployment in the United States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 82(1), pages 117-130, March.
    7. Karsten Hank & Michaela R. Kreyenfeld, 2000. "Does the availability of childcare influence the employment of mothers? Findings from western Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2000-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    8. Sari Pekkala & Hannu Tervo, 2002. "Unemployment and Migration: Does Moving Help?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 621-639, December.
    9. Jean Kimmel, 1998. "Child Care Costs As A Barrier To Employment For Single And Married Mothers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 287-299, May.
    10. Holzer, Harry J, 1991. "Employment, Unemployment and Demand Shifts in Local Labor Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(1), pages 25-32, February.
    11. Charles Michalopoulos & Philip K. Robins, 2000. "Employment and child-care choices in Canada and the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 435-470, May.
    12. Christina Beatty & Stephen Fothergill & Rob Macmillan, 2000. "A Theory of Employment, Unemployment and Sickness," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 617-630, October.
    13. Nick Bailey & Ivan Turok, 2000. "Adjustment to Job Loss in Britain's Major Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 631-653, October.
    14. Timothy J. Bartik, 1993. "The Effects of Local Labor Demand on Individual Labor Market Outcomes for Diffrerent Demographic Groups and the Poor," Upjohn Working Papers 93-23, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    15. Andrew Jonas, 1996. "Local Labour Control Regimes: Uneven Development and the Social Regulation of Production," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 323-338.
    16. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2006. "The Geography of American Poverty: Is There a Need for Place-Based Policies?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number gap, November.
    17. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Matthew O. Jackson, 2004. "The Effects of Social Networks on Employment and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 426-454, June.
    18. Holzer, Harry J, 1988. "Search Method Use by Unemployed Youth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, January.
    19. Ronald McQuaid, 2006. "Job search success and employability in local labor markets," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 40(2), pages 407-421, June.
    20. William F. Mitchell & Martin J. Watts, 1997. "The Path to full Employment," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 30(4), pages 436-443, December.
    21. Katharine G. Abraham, 1987. "Help-Wanted Advertising, Job Vacancies, and Unemployment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 18(1), pages 207-248.
    22. Giorgio Topa, 2001. "Social Interactions, Local Spillovers and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(2), pages 261-295.
    23. Stephen Fothergill, 2001. "The True Scale of the Regional Problem in the UK," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 241-246.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Justin Doran & Bernard Fingleton, 2016. "Employment Resilience in Europe and the 2008 Economic Crisis: Insights from Micro-Level Data," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 644-656, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreia Tolciu, 2010. "The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 223-242, January.
    2. Damm, Anna Piil, 2014. "Neighborhood quality and labor market outcomes: Evidence from quasi-random neighborhood assignment of immigrants," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 139-166.
    3. O'Leary, Nigel C. & Murphy, Philip D. & Latreille, Paul L. & Blackaby, David H. & Sloane, Peter J., 2005. "Accounting for Differences in Labour Market Outcomes in Great Britain: A Regional Analysis Using the Labour Force Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 1501, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Zenou, Yves, 2011. "Spatial versus Social Mismatch: The Strength of Weak Ties," Research Papers in Economics 2011:5, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    5. Ian M. Schmutte, 2015. "Job Referral Networks and the Determination of Earnings in Local Labor Markets," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-32.
    6. Somaya Ahmed Aly Abdel-Mowla, 2012. "Females’ Off-the-Job Search Methods in Egypt: Formal versus Informal Search Methods," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 1(1), pages 21-42, June.
    7. Tolciu, Andreia, 2008. "Is unemployment a consequence of social interactions? Seeking for a common research framework for economists and other social scientists," HWWI Research Papers 1-15, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    8. de Martí, Joan & Zenou, Yves, 2009. "Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 4621, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Andreia Tolciu, 2010. "The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 39(3), pages 223-242, October.
    10. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2020. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2012. "Ethnic networks and employment outcomes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 938-949.
    12. Battu, Harminder & Seaman, Paul & Zenou, Yves, 2011. "Job contact networks and the ethnic minorities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 48-56, January.
    13. Andrea Morescalchi, 2021. "A new career in a new town. Job search methods and regional mobility of unemployed workers," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 20(2), pages 223-272, May.
    14. Zenou, Yves, 2011. "Explaining the Black/White Employment Gap: The Role of Weak Ties," CEPR Discussion Papers 8582, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. James R. Hines & Hilary Hoynes & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Another Look at Whether a Rising Tide Lifts All Boats," Working Papers 833, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    16. Calvo-Armengol, Antoni & Zenou, Yves, 2005. "Job matching, social network and word-of-mouth communication," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 500-522, May.
    17. Patrick Bayer & Stephen L. Ross & Giorgio Topa, 2008. "Place of Work and Place of Residence: Informal Hiring Networks and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1150-1196, December.
    18. Cai, Zhengyu & Maguire, Karen & Winters, John V., 2018. "Who Benefits from Local Oil and Gas Employment? Labor Market Composition in the Oil and Gas Industry in Texas," GLO Discussion Paper Series 246, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Uta Schönberg & Herbert Brücker, 2016. "Referral-based Job Search Networks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 514-546.
    20. Catia Nicodemo & Gustavo Adolfo García, 2015. "Job Search Channels, Neighborhood Effects, and Wages Inequality in Developing Countries: The Colombian Case," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 53(2), pages 75-99, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:45:y:2008:i:5-6:p:1193-1216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.