Unemployment Of The Australian Economy

In comparison to US, Australia’s structural unemployment rate is higher (Statista, 2018) that gives some ground for Australia to lower the unemployment rate from the nation (Australian Government Budget, 2004-05). Before the Second World War, the unemployment rate of Australia was only around two percent. Due to increase in working age population in Australia, along with increase in employment, unemployment rate also increases. Rapid growth in economy, trained workers, educated and skilled workers, expansion of business in country will lead to lower the unemployment rate.

Australia’s economic status can be assessed using a range of economic indicators such as unemployment rates, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation rates and interest rates. The economy can affect Australian business’s greatly causing them to flow through the business cycle. The business cycle purpose is to describe the overall trends of the economy and can show growths of high or negative. The four stages in a business cycle are: expansion, this is when the economy has high demands; peak, this is the turning point of the expansions before the economy falls down. A contraction is when the demand for goods and services are low; and trough, is the opposite of a peak. To evaluate Australia’s current economic status factors such as unemployment

This report will show an overview of the current state of the Australian economy and its management by the Federal government through examining economic indicators such as economic growth (GDP), unemployment, inflation and trade.

An increase or decrease in the unemployment rate can have a multiple effects on the Australian economy, both beneficial as well detrimental to the economic conditions and the societal outlook.

The present study will aim to address the labour shortage in Australia that ultimately affects the economic growth of the country. From this perspective, Gavin (2010) points out that “The minerals and energy industry continues to make a significant contribution to employment and wider economic activity in the communities of regional Australia, and to governments directly through taxes and royalties. Skilled labour shortages; however, will continue to have an impact on the nation’s future growth and development prospects, especially in the minerals and energy industry” (p. 1).

The skills shortage issue in the Australian labour market is very apparent. In any case, the reasons as to why this is occurring always relates to factors of change. These factors of change include; the general economic conditions, conditions in the firms industry, changes in technology, the ageing population, the demand for labour, and the education, skills and experience of workers. The government investigates ways in which they can protect the Australian economy and the Australian workforce. This is done by the analysis of policies that could be put in place. The Budget Speech announced by Wayne Swan includes government policies that can address the issue of the skills shortage in the Australian labour market. Jobs and Skills Expos are

Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. Now, Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.

Unemployment is a social problem in Australia, which affects a majority of society in many ways. Not only can it cause financial debt to families, but from there it can cause family breakdowns, social isolation, shame and it can even lead to violence. The Conflict theory perspective explains how unemployment can be caused by class and power by focusing on the inequality within society. The inequality sequentially predicts that the poorer members of society struggle to find employment, to be able to get education to find suitable employment and are.

Suggesting any economic or policy reforms to the Australian Economy requires us to understand the evolution of an economy and the factors effecting it both intrinsically and globally.

“In early 2016, the ABS Labor force found that 258,000 youth aged 15-24 was unemployed” (ABS, 2016), accounting for over a third of total unemployment (721,400 people)” (ABS, 2016). There are several reasons youth unemployment exists in Australia, with the primary cause being low economic

Neither the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander labour force participation rate or the unemployment rate compares favourably to the equivalent non-Indigenous rates. Proportionally, fewer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were participating in the labour force, with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander labour force participation rate 20.5 percentage points lower than the non-Indigenous rate (55.8% compared with 76.4%). Additionally, a greater proportion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participating in the labour force were unemployed, with the unemployment rate more than three times higher (11.7 percentage points) than the non-Indigenous rate (17.2% compared with 5.5%)”.

The reason of not just using an unemployment rate but unemployment to population ratio is because we need to consider the growing population in Australia to determine an accurate assumption.

This report will analyse unemployment in the Australian labour market. Since 1990, the ratio of the number of individuals employed to the working-age population in Australia has changed around a generally steady level, while the unemployment rate has climbed from 5.8 to 11.0 percent in the 1990s. From that point it declined reasonably reliably to achieve 6.1 percent in August 2000. Increments in the unemployment rate happened essentially in three relatively short episodes connected with the sharp contractions in economic activity in the mid 1990s, 2004–2008 and 2008–2009. Besides, the rises in the unemployment rate in these episodes had a tendency to be extensively quicker than the falls in the subsequent recoveries,

Labour market conditions are generally better than had been expected since the first rate cut in February 2015, although spare capacity still remains. The unemployment rate over recent months was around the levels that have been recorded over much of the past year. There has been a pick-up in labour demand, which has led to a noticeable rise in the employment-to-population ratio. Some factors that can help explain this include very low wage growth and lower-than-expected population growth. The ABS measure of firms ' job vacancies is consistent with the unemployment rate remaining around levels of recent months or even declining a little in the months ahead. Other indicators point to modest employment growth in coming months (Reserve Bank Of Australia. 2016). The unemployment rate is forecast to be lower than previously anticipated. In part, this reflects the generally better-than-expected labour market conditions of late. The decrease in the unemployment rate

In December 2011, 248,976 thousand of Australian residents were employed and 64,283 thousand were unemployed.