IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iae/iaewps/wp2000n15.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Labour Market Models of Unemployment in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Jeff Borland

    (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne)

  • Ian McDonald

    (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

This paper reviews evidence on the equilibrium rate of unemployment and on causes of unemployment in Australia from empirical modelling of labour market outcomes. Three main types of models are reviewed - Phillips curve models; Multi-equation models; and Beveridge curve models. The paper begins with a simple review of labour market theory in order to provide some motivation for the empirical approaches that are examined. In the main part of the paper the three modelling approaches are reviewed. For each model the estimation methodology is described, main results on causes of unemployment from that approach are summarised, and an evaluation of the model is made.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeff Borland & Ian McDonald, 2000. "Labour Market Models of Unemployment in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2000n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
  • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2000n15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2000n15.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:ecorec:v:63:y:1987:i:181:p:144-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Philip M. Bodman, 1999. "Labour Market Inefficiency and Frictional Unemployment in Australia and its States: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 75(2), pages 138-148, June.
    3. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173, December.
    4. P. K. Trivedi & G. M. Baker, 1985. "Equilibrium Unemployment in Australia: Concepts and Measurement," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(3), pages 629-643, September.
    5. Kenichi Kawasaki & Peter Hoeller & Pierre Poret, 1990. "Modelling Wages and Prices for the Smaller OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 86, OECD Publishing.
    6. Olivier J. Blanchard & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 15-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Bean, Charles R, 1994. "European Unemployment: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 573-619, June.
    8. repec:bla:econom:v:58:y:1991:i:229:p:35-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:bla:scotjp:v:48:y:2001:i:5:p:532-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Blanchard, Olivier J. & Summers, Lawrence H., 1987. "Hysteresis in unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 288-295.
    11. Mark Crosby & Nilss Olekalns, 1998. "Inflation, Unemployment and the NAIRU in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 31(2), pages 117-129, June.
    12. J. D. Pitchford, 1983. "Unemployment, Real Wages and the Money Supply in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 59(2), pages 118-131, June.
    13. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1984. "Union Wage Policies: Reply [Wage Bargaining and Employment]," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 759-761, September.
    14. Gruen, David & Pagan, Adrian & Thompson, Christopher, 1999. "The Phillips curve in Australia," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 223-258, October.
    15. Jeff Borland, 1997. "Unemployment in Australia—Prospects and Policies: An Overview," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 30(4), pages 391-404, December.
    16. repec:bla:ecorec:v:61:y:1985:i:173:p:554-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Oliver Jean Blanchard & Peter Diamond, 1989. "The Beveridge Curve," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1), pages 1-76.
    18. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    19. Rao, B Bhaskara, 1977. "An Analysis of the Short and Long-run Trade-offs between Unemployment and Inflation and Estimates of the Equilibrium Steady State Unemployment Rate in Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(29), pages 273-284, December.
    20. R.M. Simes & C.J. Richardson, 1987. "Wage Determination In Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 63(2), pages 144-155, June.
    21. Mitchell, William F, 1987. "The Nairu, Structural Imbalance and the Macroequilibrium Unemployment Rate," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(48), pages 101-118, June.
    22. Parkin, Michael, 1976. "Yet Another Look at Australia's Short-Run and Long-Run Trade-Offs between Inflation and Unemployment," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(26), pages 128-139, June.
    23. Guy Debelle & Douglas Laxton, 1997. "Is the Phillips Curve Really a Curve? Some Evidence for Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(2), pages 249-282, June.
    24. Parkin, Michael, 1973. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Trade-Offs Between Inflation and Unemployment in Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(21), pages 127-144, December.
    25. repec:bla:ecorec:v:74:y:1998:i:227:p:384-98 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Kirby, Michael G, 1981. "A Variable Expectations Coefficient Model of the Australian Phillips Curve," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(37), pages 351-358, December.
    27. repec:bla:ecorec:v:61:y:1985:i:173:p:516-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. repec:bla:ecorec:v:59:y:1983:i:165:p:118-31 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Jeff Borland, 2000. "Disaggregated Models of Unemployment in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2000n16, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    30. Gregory, R.G. & Hunter, B., 1995. "The Macro Economy and the Growth of Ghettos and Urban Poverty in Australia," CEPR Discussion Papers 325, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    31. Tom Valentine, 1993. "The Sources Of Unemployment: A Simple Econometric Analysis," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, December.
    32. repec:bla:econom:v:53:y:1986:i:210(s):p:s1-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Peter Dawkins & Mark Wooden, 1985. "Labour Utilization and Wage Inflation in Australia: An Empirical Examination," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(2), pages 516-521, June.
    34. Jerome Fahrer & Andrew Pease, 1993. "The Unemployment‐Vacancy Relationship in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 26(4), pages 43-57, October.
    35. Stegman, A. & Stegman, T., 1999. "Labour Market Flexibility, the Beveridge Curve, and the Output-Employment Ratio in Australia," Papers 99/16, New South Wales - School of Economics.
    36. Jeff Borland, 1990. "Unemployment in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 23(1), pages 41-51, March.
    37. Glenn Withers & David Pope, 1985. "Immigration and Unemployment," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(2), pages 554-564, June.
    38. D. T. Nguyen & A. Mahinda Siriwardana, 1988. "The Relationship Between Output Growth and Unemployment: A Re‐examination of Okun's Law in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 21(1), pages 16-27, March.
    39. Nevile, John W, 1977. "Domestic and Overseas Influences on Inflation in Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(28), pages 121-129, June.
    40. repec:bla:econom:v:53:y:1986:i:210(s):p:s53-74 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer, 1989. "Lectures on Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262022834, April.
    42. Edmund S. Phelps, 1968. "Money-Wage Dynamics and Labor-Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(4), pages 678-678.
    43. repec:bla:ecorec:v:61:y:1985:i:174:p:629-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    44. Mr. Douglas Laxton & Mr. Peter B. Clark, 1997. "Phillips Curves, Phillips Lines and the Unemplyment Costs of Overheating," IMF Working Papers 1997/017, International Monetary Fund.
    45. repec:bla:ecorec:v:75:y:1999:i:229:p:138-48 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Mallick, Debdulal, 2019. "Policy regimes and the shape of the Phillips curve in Australia," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1077-1094.
    2. G.C. Lim & Robert Dixon & Sarantis Tsiaplias, 2009. "Phillips Curve and the Equilibrium Unemployment Rate," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(271), pages 371-382, December.
    3. John Freebairn & Peter Dawkins, 2003. "Unemployment Policy: Lessons from Economic Analysis," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n22, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

    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. Guy Debelle & James Vickery, 1998. "Is the Phillips Curve A Curve? Some Evidence and Implications for Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 74(227), pages 384-398, December.
    2. Gruen, David & Pagan, Adrian & Thompson, Christopher, 1999. "The Phillips curve in Australia," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 223-258, October.
    3. Carlsson, Mikael & Eriksson, Stefan & Gottfries, Nils, 2006. "Testing Theories of Job Creation: Does Supply Create Its Own Demand?," Working Paper Series 194, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    4. Olivier Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1997. "What We Know and Do Not Know about the Natural Rate of Unemployment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    5. Ángel L. Martín‐Román & Jaime Cuéllar‐Martín & Alfonso Moral, 2023. "Natural and cyclical unemployment: A stochastic frontier decomposition and economic policy implications," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 5-39, January.
    6. Richard Rogerson, 1997. "Theory Ahead of Language in the Economics of Unemployment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 73-92, Winter.
    7. John Freebairn, 1995. "Reconsidering the Marginal Welfare Cost of Taxation," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 71(2), pages 121-131, June.
    8. Bårdsen Gunnar & Hurn Stanley & McHugh Zöe, 2012. "Asymmetric Unemployment Rate Dynamics in Australia," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, January.
    9. Laurence Ball & N. Gregory Mankiw, 2002. "The NAIRU in Theory and Practice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 115-136, Fall.
    10. G.C. Lim & Robert Dixon & Sarantis Tsiaplias, 2009. "Phillips Curve and the Equilibrium Unemployment Rate," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(271), pages 371-382, December.
    11. Matteo Lanzafame, 2010. "The nature of regional unemployment in Italy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 877-895, December.
    12. Bardsen, Gunnar & Eitrheim, Oyvind & Jansen, Eilev S. & Nymoen, Ragnar, 2005. "The Econometrics of Macroeconomic Modelling," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199246502.
    13. Kevin S. Nell, 2006. "Structural Change And Nonlinearities In A Phillips Curve Model For South Africa," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(4), pages 600-617, October.
    14. Paul Oslington, 2012. "General Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(282), pages 446-448, September.
    15. Dosi, G. & Pereira, M.C. & Roventini, A. & Virgillito, M.E., 2017. "When more flexibility yields more fragility: The microfoundations of Keynesian aggregate unemployment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 162-186.
    16. Anh T. Le & Paul W. Miller, 2000. "Australia's Unemployment Problem," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 76(232), pages 74-104, March.
    17. David Shepherd & Ciaran Driver, 2003. "Inflation and Capacity Constraints in Australian Manufacturing Industry," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 79(245), pages 182-195, June.
    18. Bianchi, Marco & Zoega, Gylfi, 1997. "Challenges facing natural rate theory," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 535-547, April.
    19. Michael Woodford, 1994. "Structural Slumps," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1784-1815, December.
    20. Yannick L'Horty & Florence Thibault, 1997. "Le Nairu en France : les insuffisances d'une courbe de Phillips," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 127(1), pages 83-99.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iae:iaewps:wp2000n15. 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: Sheri Carnegie (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    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.