IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rba/rbardp/rdp2002-07.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An Exploration of Marginal Attachment to the Australian Labour Market

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Gray

    (Australian Institute of Family Studies)

  • Alexandra Heath

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

  • Boyd Hunter

    (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU)

Abstract

One of the key factors that affects the extent to which changes in labour demand affect other macroeconomic variables, such as wage inflation, is the degree of matching between potential employees and available jobs. The pool of potential employees is usually measured as the pool of unemployed workers. However, this ignores an important group of people who are not officially unemployed, but do represent potential labour supply the marginally attached workforce, which can be broadly defined as the people who are not currently in the labour force, but want to work and are available to take up employment. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which the labour market behaviour of marginally attached workers is similar to that of the unemployed. We use longitudinal data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns (SEUP), which provides detailed information on the characteristics of individuals as well as their labour market experiences, to compare dynamic behaviour across labour market groups, for example, the probability of moving into employment. We find that in some respects the dynamic behaviour of the marginally attached is similar to that of the unemployed, but in others it is quite different. Accordingly, the most appropriate measure of labour supply depends on the policy question, and consequently a range of measures should be considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Gray & Alexandra Heath & Boyd Hunter, 2002. "An Exploration of Marginal Attachment to the Australian Labour Market," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2002-07, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2002-07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2002/pdf/rdp2002-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tachibanaki, Toshiaki & Sakurai, Kojiro, 1991. "Labour supply and unemployment in Japan," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1575-1587, December.
    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. Scott Baum & William Mitchell, 2010. "Labour Underutilisation and Gender: Unemployment Versus Hidden-Unemployment," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 29(2), pages 233-248, April.
    2. Böhm, Kathrin, 2011. "Schätzung der Stillen Reserve mit dem Mikrozensuspanel 2001-2004 : eine Machbarkeitsstudie," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201102, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Jeremy Lawson & Crystal Ossolinski, 2010. "Employment Composition: A Study of Australian Employment Growth, 2002–2006," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2010-04, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    4. Michelle van der Merwe, 2016. "Factors Affecting an Individual's Future Labour Market Status," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 11-22, December.
    5. Mudassira Sarfraz & Zubaria Andlib & Muhammad Kamran & Noor Ullah Khan & Hanieh Alipour Bazkiaei, 2021. "Pathways towards Women Empowerment and Determinants of Decent Work Deficit: A South Asian Perspective," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Boyd Hunter & John Taylor, 2004. "Indigenous Employment Forecasts: Implications for Reconciliation," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 179-192.

    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. Geeta G. Kingdon & John B. Knight, 2000. "Are searching and non-searching unemployment distinct states when unemployment is high? The case of South Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2000-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    2. Rob Euwals & Marike Knoef & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "The trend in female labour force participation: what can be expected for the future?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 729-753, May.
    3. Gilles Margirier, 2018. "Recent trends in Okun's law : eleven countries from 1995 to 2017," Working Papers halshs-02482421, HAL.
    4. Fazekas, Károly & Ozsvald, Éva, 2000. "Növekvő munkanélküliség, rugalmasabb munkaerőpiac a japán stílusú foglalkoztatási modell átalakulása [Rising unemployment and a more flexible labour market the transformation of the Japanese-style ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 157-177.
    5. Darby, Julia & Hart, Robert A. & Vecchi, Michela, 2001. "Labour force participation and the business cycle: a comparative analysis of France, Japan, Sweden and the United States," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 113-133, April.
    6. Ian H.K. Leow, 2004. "A Simple Dynamic Model of Big-push," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 218, Econometric Society.
    7. Serrano, Joaquín & Gasparini, Leonardo & Marchionni, Mariana & Glüzmann, Pablo, 2019. "Economic cycle and deceleration of female labor force participation in Latin America," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 53(1), pages 1-13.
    8. Martina Rengers & Johann Fuchs, 2022. "Stille Reserve in Deutschland: Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zweier Konzepte [Hidden labour force in Germany: similarities and differences between two concepts]," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 16(3), pages 189-230, December.
    9. Julia Darby & Robert A Hart & Michaela Vecchi, 1998. "Labour Force Participation and the Business Cycle: A Comparative Analysis of Europe, Japan and the United States," Working Papers 9802, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    10. Hesna Genay & Prakash Loungani, 1997. "Labor market fluctuations in Japan and the U.S.--how similar are they?," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 21(May), pages 15-28.
    11. repec:ldr:wpaper:94 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Kingdon, Geeta & Knight, John, 2006. "The measurement of unemployment when unemployment is high," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 291-315, June.
    13. Johann Fuchs, 2014. "Der Einfluss von Hartz IV auf die westdeutsche Stille Reserve – Ergebnisse auf Basis unterschiedlicher methodischer Ansätze," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 8(1), pages 33-48, June.
    14. Rob Euwals & Marike Knoef & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "The trend in female labour force participation: what can be expected for the future?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 729-753, May.
    15. Hiroyuki Kubota & Ichiro Muto & Mototsugu Shintani, 2022. "Monetary Policy, Labor Force Participation, and Wage Rigidity," IMES Discussion Paper Series 22-E-17, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    16. Sakata, Kei, 2002. "Sectoral Shifts and Cyclical Unemployment in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 227-252, June.
    17. Fuchs, Johann & Weber, Brigitte, 2021. "Neue Schätzungen für die Stille Reserve - erstmalig Anwendung des IAB-Konzepts auf Gesamtdeutschland," IAB-Forschungsbericht 202106, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

    More about this item

    Keywords

    dynamic behaviour; effective labour supply; marginal attachment; transition probability; unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    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:rba:rbardp:rdp2002-07. 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: Paula Drew (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rbagvau.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.