Labour Market Outcomes Flashcards
What kept wage equality smaller in the past?
In the 1980’s employees generally had their wages centralized by “Fair Work Commission”
What has made the gap larger in income since the 1990s?
The shift towards enterprise bargaining
Enterprise bargaining
Refers to negotiations between employers and employees (or their representatives) about pay and work conditions at the level of the individual firm
Income distribution
Refers to the way in which an economy’s income is spread among the members of different social and socio-economic groups
Trends that have occurred since the 1990s in wage outcomes
- Inequality distribution growing
- Top 20% of income recipients account for 40% of total income (x5 bottom quintile)
- Top quintile has grown taking away from middle quintiles
What is a cause of income distribution within occupation?
Decline in union membership
Salary packaging…
Additionally benefits such as a company car, laptop, child care subsidies, gym
Superannuation
Is a form of saving that individuals cannot access until they reach retirement age.
Non-wage outcomes
Are benefits that many employees receive in addition to their ordinary and overtime payments, such as sick leave, superannuation, a company car, study leave or arrangements for hybrid working
Bonus cash payments…
Are on top of the employees normal wage and are a bonus coming from company profit performance or employee’s individual work performance
Improving flexibility in work patterns…
Working from home which saw a 1/3 of global population during COVID
Study leave, parental leave
Nominal Wage
is the pay received by employees in dollar terms for their contribution to the production process, not adjusted for inflation.
Real wage
is a measure of the actual purchasing power of money wage (that is, nominal wages adjusted for the effects of inflation)
Labour Productivity
refers to the quantity of output produced in a production process per unit of labour per unit of time.
Who is not given leave?
Younger workers
Part-time employees
Those working in accomodation, food services, forestry, fishing
Why is inequality good for the economy?
Increase in productive capacity which increases real GDP per capita.
- Encourages increase in education / skill levels
- Encourages labour to work longer / harder
- Makes them more mobile
- Encourages entrepreneurs to accept risks more readily
- Potential for higher savings and capital formation
Costs of a inequality in the economy?
- Reduces overall utility
- Can reduce economic growth
- Reduces consumption + investment
- Creates conspicuous consumption
- Create poverty + social problems
- Increase the cost of welfare support
Inequality of opportunity
- Perpetuate inequality of opportunity
- Not everyone has the same mental and physical attributes
- Wealth through inheritance
- Networks (migrants don’t)
Costs of a inequality socially?
- Wellbeing (crime, health, mobility)
- Social Class division
Unemployment
This refers to a situation where individuals want to work but are unable to find a job, and as a result, labor resources in an economy are not utilized.
What do you look at to see if people are better off over time?
The real wages
What will happen when the growth in real wages is higher than productivity growth?
The high labor costs will go into the business profits as the employees are not producing enough money to address the growth in labor costs.