The Organization Performing in the Australian Economy - Statistics Project Example

Australia in the past few decades had witnessed wide spread changes in the labor market as the workplace has undergone tremendous changes. The Australian labor market has witnessed lots of transformation due to continuous changes in the reform sector. The 1970s highlighted a period where most of the jobs were help by full time working males. The period also highlighted a frame where male were the sole bread earner in the families. Majority of the population during the period were uneducated and one third of the population was engaged in agriculture and manufacturing industry. Slowly, with the passage of time the labor industry witnessed changes and resulted in bringing a complete transformation in the labor market. Today, both male and female are found to have equal job opportunities and many people within the household have employment which was not the scene in 1970. The growth ensured that more and more people were educated and started working in respectable positions within organizations. The transformation in the Australian labor market increased scope for the employees and helped in the development of different industrial relation issues. This paper explores the manner in which the Australian labor market has evolved since the 1970’s and the different changes that have been witnessed in employment relations within Australia. The analysis will help to understand the manner in which the entire industrial relation has undergone changes and the manner in which the Australian economy has developed due to changes in labor laws. The period from 1970 to 2000’s has seen widespread changes in the labor market. The labor market in the 1970’s consisted of 5.6 million people. Out of the total labor market 500,000 people were part time workers whereas full time worker consisted of 4.9 millions workers. The remaining 100,000 workers were unemployed and were seeking employment. The period then saw widespread changes as the total labor market grew to 9.8 million people out of whom 2.5 million were employed part time, 6.5 million were employed full time and the remaining 650,000 were unemployed (Campbell and Burgess, 2001). The period thereby highlights widespread changes in the labor market as the entire population of labor underwent changes. Despite, the changes in the labor market it is seen that the aggregate of employment/population rate was constant and was about 60% all from the period of 1970’s to 2000s. The period also showed that in 1970’s 2 out of 3 jobs were held by male whereas in 2000, 1 out of 2 jobs were held by males. One of the major factors which contributed towards an increase in higher employment rate for female was the growth in the female population (Dawkins, Gregg and Scutella, 2002). The same has been highlighted in the table below The same period from 1970 to 2000 also shows the manner in which changes were witnessed in the percentage of people employed as part time. The period from 2000 showed that 30% of the people were employed as part time compared to 10% in 1970 (Cass, 2002). This is matched by the increase contribution of females in part time job as compared to males as shown in the table below The period also highlighted changes in the demographic and industrial labor force which resulted in bringing widespread changes in the labor market. This is shown in the chart below The above chart highlights that the labor force participation for males in the age bracket 55-64 has decreased where as the labor participation for females in the age bracket of 25-54 years have increased (Gregory, McMahon and Whittingham, 2005). The labor force participation for both and female has undergone wide changes and brought different ramifications in the labor industry. A look at the employment of people based on different industry highlights changes from 1970 to 2000. It is seen in the chart below that agriculture and manufacturing sector which accounted for 32% of the total employment in 1970 has changed to 17% in 2000 showing that the contribution of the different sector has changed significantly due to changes seen in the labor force (Borland, 2005). The labor force with regard to the education level has seen increase in the level of education. The education level of the workforce has thereby increased considerably which is shown in the table below. People with a bachelor degree qualification has nearly doubled to 15% in 2000 from 7.5% in 1970 whereas the proportion of people not completing high school education has decreased to one third from one half showing the changes that the labor workforce is undergoing. Similarly, a look at the indigenous workforce which has been shown below highlights consistency over all the year from 1970 to 2000 showing that the labor force participation has remained almost consistent. The overall changes in the labor workforce industry have caused considerable changes and development of new reforms in the Australian labor market. Growth in employment rate with regard to the occupation based on type of jobs shows that over the last few decades the maximum growth in people working in different occupation is seen in high skill professional jobs. This shows that the labor market looks towards hiring employees based on the skills which are demonstrated by the employees (Wooden, 2000). This is added by the fact that more and more female are looking to work for blue collared jobs as compared to males working for blue collared job due to the changes that the population of male and female population working in blue collar job has seen as highlighted in the table below. The manner in which both male and female population has witnessed changes in the working population has made different reforms being developed in the labor arena and has brought changes in the manner in which the labor works. This can be seen in the chart below which highlights that employment/population rate has increased for married couples who have children which has increased the chances of more than one member of the family seeking employment (Borland, Dawkins, Johnson and Williams, 2000) The entire working population of Australia has thereby changed and has resulted in making widespread changes in the labor reforms and has shown changes in unemployment. The figure shown below highlights the same for the period 1970 to 2000 The above chart highlights that the unemployment rate in 2000 was 6.6%. This has witnessed changes since the 1970 where the rate of unemployment was 2% and has risen to above 6%. The period of 1980 and 1990 shows unemployment rate to fluctuate between 6 and 10 percent. One of the major contributors towards high unemployment rate was the cyclical changes which had occurred and getting back to normalcy took time. The unemployment rate also highlights that there were period when a large share of the unemployed population wasn’t able to work. The period of 2000 showed that out of the total unemployed population 20% had more that one year of unemployment rate. The unemployment rate from the period of 1970 to 2000 further showed that unemployment rose during period of recession and reduced during expansion phase. The period of 1980 didn’t highlight any trend on changes in the increase in unemployment population. Breaking the unemployed population into different section shows that young, less educated, immigrants, and people who had last worked on blue collar jobs consisted of a higher percentage in the unemployment population. This transfers to the fact that unemployment is contributed due to different factors which has an effect on the labor supply and results in changes in the quality and demand of labor (Beggs and Chapman, 2008). This can be seen from the changes that has been witnessed in the labor hours worked between 1970 and 2000 The above table highlights that the proportion of working hours for male between 1-34, 35 to 50 and more than 50 has remained stable and shows similar contribution. A look at the proportion of labor hours worked by female’s shows that more females look to work between 1 – 34 hours as compared to other working hours per week. In addition to it the composition of part time working hours has increased considerable above 49 hours per week showing the changes that the labor workforce in Australia has seen from 1970 to 2000 (Beggs and Chapman, 2008). The changes in the labor force can also be seen by the manner in which labor force contribution to work without leave entitlements have changed and are shown in the table below The above chart shows that out of the total workers working without leave entitlement is around 20% for men and around 30% for female in 2000. This has seen widespread changes for males as it has considerably increased for males but a similar percentage is being seen for females which show consistency for the workforce of the human population (Beggs and Chapman, 2008). This has resulted in the workforce to undergo tremendous changes which has been aided by the changes in reforms in the labor market and the growing importance being given to industrial relations. This is supported by the changes that has been witnessed in the tenure for which the male and female population worked between 1970 and 2000 as shown below The chart highlights that during the 1970’s the duration of work for both male and female stable. Few changes were witnessed during the period of 1970 to 2000 where the composition of both male and female population remained stable and showed similar duration of work for the population working less than 1 year. Changes were witnessed in 2000 for the female population where the percentage of female working for more than 10 years has nearly doubled from the 10% female population working more than 10 years in 1970 (Beggs and Chapman, 2008). The period between 10970 and 2000 also highlighted changes in the labor productivity and the wages that they were able to earn. The figure below shows the same The above chart highlights that the earning increased in the 1980’s but later in the 1990’s the wage rate started to decline. The period after 1990 was one where the wage rates were stable and the employees hardly found any growth in their real wage rates. The labor productivity from the period 1970 to 1990 also showed growth and improvement as the contribution of labor grew by 1.2%. The period of 1990 further helped to improve labor productivity which increased by 3% and was primarily due to the growth witnessed in technology. The period after 2000 also showed similar growth and helped to increase the contribution from the employees. The period also highlighted variations in the individual earnings when demographics and skills of an employee are considered. It was seen that the earnings is directly related to the educational qualification that an employee has. It was evident that an employee who is educated was able to earn additional 5% return compared to employees who didn’t have the required level of education (Heath, 2000). It was also observed that immigrants working in Australia who had the basic knowledge of English language spoken in Australia was able to earn similar earnings as the Australian workforce. It was also analyzed that earnings of indigenous workers and workers with disability were low which is present even today. The period from 1970 to 2000 also highlighted the gender gap which existed in the Australian economy and is shown in the figure below The above figure shows the gap between the income level of female and male working in Australia. The graph shows that in 2000, female working employees received 90% of the wages that the male employees received showing demarcation based on gender (Heath, 2000). However, 1970’s highlighted very little gap between the wages of females and males. The chart highlights the manner in which wage differentials arises in the labor market of Australia based on gender and results in differences between the male and female working employees. This has resulted in creating inequality between the workforce as seen from the table below The above table shows that inequality has grown after 1970 and especially after the mid 1970s. The period between 1975 and 2000 clearly reflects that the real wage of full time male employees has grown by just 1% for 10 percentile of the working population and by 37% for the 90 percentile of the working population showing the disparity which has resulted in creating inequality (Deery and DeCieri, 2001). Similar, has been the case for females highlighting that inequality exist both for male and female population. The recent changes have further widened the gap and have resulted in a growth in inequality between the work force. The overall changes has been reflected by the changes in labor union and their control over things as seen in the chart below The chart highlights that control of trade union has decreased drastically from 1970 to 2000 as the control of labor union has fallen by 50% and remains fairly low. This has resulted in a decrease in the density rate of population being controlled by the trade union and has helped in the overall changes being witnessed in the labor market (Daly and Hunter, 2001). This has reduced the number of working days lost drastically as shown in the figure below and has become possible due to less trade union interference The above chart highlights that the loss of working days due to industrial disputed has reduced and doesn’t have a significant effect on the productivity of the industry or employee. The period of 2000 showed that 1/20th of a day was lost due to industrial dispute considering that fact that the rate was very high in the 1970s and 1980s. This has helped to build better industrial relations and has evolved the labor market to perform in an entirely different manner (Borland and McDonald, 2000). The manner in which the labor market has undergone changes from the 1970 to 2000 has increased the importance of industrial relations and has made it mandatory that organizations look towards using manpower in the correct manner. This has reduced the level of exploitation that the employees had to undergo and requires that the wages which are paid to the employees are according to the standards which have been determined by the Australian government. The wage rate in Australia is determined by the Federal & State government and all organizations have to ensure that they abide by it. The development of reforms and more powers being awarded to employees have reduced the interference of trade union but at the same time it has made organizations understand the importance of industrial relation and look towards abiding to it (Deery and DeCieri, 2001). Maintaining a good industrial relation where the manager has to play its part will ensure that the magnitude of industrial disputes will be low. The fact that both the parties are able to understand each other will ensure that the disputes if they emerge will be solves easily. This will reduce the number of strikes, lock outs and others which could have an effect on the ongoing process within the organization. This will also ensure that the manager is able to identify the different areas where specialized training has to be provided (Edwards, 2003). This will thereby act as a method through which the employees can be motivated and a high rate of commitment can be ensured from them. This will thereby help to develop the entire fundamentals in such a manner that it will result in creating positivity within the organization and reduce the problems which might arise internally within the organization. This will help the organization performing in the Australian economy to transform their style of working and will thereby ensure that maximum benefits are availed from the changes which the work force has ensured from 1970 to 2000. The report thereby presents the manner in which the Australian labor market has evolved since the 1970’s and the different changes that have been witnessed in employment relations within Australia. The analysis will help to understand the manner in which the entire industrial relation has undergone changes and the manner in which the Australian economy has developed due to changes in labor laws. This will help to improve the working style and provide organizations with better incentive to work and raise no labor related issues in the future. References Beggs, J. and Chapman, B. 2008. Immigrant wage adjustment in Australia: Crosssection and time-series estimates. Economic Record, 64, 161-167 Borland, J. 2005. Employment and income in Australia – Does the neighbourhood dimension matter? Australian Bulletin of Labour, 21, 281-293 Borland, J., Dawkins, P., Johnson D. and Williams, R. 2000. Returns to investment in higher education. Economics of Higher Education Research Program Report no.1, Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne Borland, J. and McDonald, I. 2000. Labour market models of unemployment. Working paper no.15/00, Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne Campbell, I. and Burgess, J. 2001. A new estimate of casual employment. Australian Bulletin of Labour, 27, 85-108 Cass, B. 2002. Employment time and family time: The intersection of labour market transformation and family responsibility in Australia. pages 142-162 in R. Callus and R. Lansbury (eds.) Working Futures ( Melbourne, Federation Press). Daly, A. and Hunter, B. 2001. Incentives to work: Replacement ratios and the cost of job loss among Indigenous Australians. Australian Economic Review, 32, 219- 236. Dawkins, P., Gregg, P. and Scutella, R. 2002. The growth of jobless households in Australia. Australian Economic Review, 35, 133-154 Deery, S. and DeCieri, H. 2001. The determinants of trade union membership in Australia. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 29, 59-73 Edwards, P.K. 2003. ‘The challenging but promising future of industrial relations: developing theory and method in context-sensitive research. Industrial Relations Journal 36 (4), 264–282 Gregory, R., McMahon, P. and Whittingham, B. 2005. Women in the Australian Labour Force: Trends, Causes and Consequences. Journal of Labor Economics, 3, S293-S309. Heath, A. 2000. Youth education decisions and job-search behaviour in Australia. unpublished Ph.D thesis, London School of Economics Wooden, M. 2000. The changing skill composition of labour demand. Australian Bulletin of Labour, 26, 191-198 Read More