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Hidden Unemployment and Older Male Workers




Type Of Work

  • Scholarly edition

Abstract

  • A number of policy reforms have recently been announced by the

    Commonwealth government to encourage greater labour force participation

    by older people in the context of an ageing society. These policy reforms

    are generally supply side in orientation such as the removal of the Mature

    Age Allowance, or restrictions to the Disability Support Pension. In this

    paper it is argued that these pensions have historically been used to

    accommodate otherwise unemployed older male workers. A number of methods

    are used to quantify the level of hidden unemployment within the older male

    population over recent decades. Estimates of adjusted unemployment rates,

    which include hidden as well as official unemployment, reveal a very

    dramatic picture of unutilised older male labour beneath relatively modest

    official unemployment rates. It is argued that without complementary

    employment policy addressing the labour demand side these policy reforms

    will achieve little except to reveal the previously high levels of hidden

    unemployment in official unemployment statistics.

Publication Date

  • 2004

Edition

Citation

  • O'Brien, M. (2004). Hidden Unemployment and Older Male Workers. Retrieved from http://business.uow.edu.au/econ/who/index.html

Web Of Science Accession Number

Book Title

Volume

Issue

Place Of Publication

Type Of Work

  • Scholarly edition

Abstract

  • A number of policy reforms have recently been announced by the

    Commonwealth government to encourage greater labour force participation

    by older people in the context of an ageing society. These policy reforms

    are generally supply side in orientation such as the removal of the Mature

    Age Allowance, or restrictions to the Disability Support Pension. In this

    paper it is argued that these pensions have historically been used to

    accommodate otherwise unemployed older male workers. A number of methods

    are used to quantify the level of hidden unemployment within the older male

    population over recent decades. Estimates of adjusted unemployment rates,

    which include hidden as well as official unemployment, reveal a very

    dramatic picture of unutilised older male labour beneath relatively modest

    official unemployment rates. It is argued that without complementary

    employment policy addressing the labour demand side these policy reforms

    will achieve little except to reveal the previously high levels of hidden

    unemployment in official unemployment statistics.

Publication Date

  • 2004

Edition

Citation

  • O'Brien, M. (2004). Hidden Unemployment and Older Male Workers. Retrieved from http://business.uow.edu.au/econ/who/index.html

Web Of Science Accession Number

Book Title

Volume

Issue

Place Of Publication