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Declining Job Quality in Australia: Another Hidden Cost of Unemployment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

John Burgess  and
Alex de Ruyter
John Burgess
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Newcastle, Australia
Alex de Ruyter
Affiliation:
Department of Commerce, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Abstract

The deterioration of the labour market associated with high and sustained rates of unemployment leads to forms of hidden unemployment and underemployment as well as a systematic decline in job quality. The ability of employers to reduce job quality is enhanced through conditions of persistent excess labour supply. In turn the State can challenge and erode conditions and standards that sustain job quality. Hence, falling job quality is another of the hidden costs of unemployment. This paper sets out the decline in job quality in Australia as manifested by the growth in non-standard employment arrangements and by the systematic erosion of the conditions associated with the standard employment model.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , December 2000 , pp. 246 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2000

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Footnotes

**

The authors would like to thank the editors and referees for their assistance.

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