Following are the main topics of your research from which group will choose any ONE: - Economic Growth of Australia in last 3 to 5 years - Unemployment in Australia last 5 years - Fiscal Policy of...

Unemployment in Australia last 5 years
Introduction
Unemployment is the major challenge faced by any economy and poses a major threat to the
development of the country. It is one of the major reason for poverty, despair and degraded
standard of living. It not only impacts the member himself but also the ones associated with him
like his family members, children etc. This results in increase in family conflicts and other social
problems. If we look at different market economies there has been unemployment due to various
factors like decline or shut down of firms, recessions etc. the major problem that arises due to
unemployment when it persists for longer period is that the individual and his family may
eak
down.
As far as the economy of Australia is concerned, there has been structural changes in the
production methodology and the resources applied including human capital. This is mainly due
to the advancement of technology, global labour mobility, increase in competition from lower
wage market and also there has been drastic change in the consumption pattern of the population
due to increase in income. The major cause of unemployment have been due to job losses in
production sector. As the company loses cost advantage to global market there is reduced job
opportunities. The people who are most affected are with low education level.
The economy of Australia have been facing issues of unemployment since last forty years.
However, government efforts of economic expansion have reduced unemployment to a lower
level. It is very evident from the fact itself that there has been reduction in unemployment
especially for the younger generation. Conceptually, unemployment cannot be precisely defined.
This can be experienced in Australia as well as the most of the economy is engaged in formal
sector and people earn their wages. The country has adopted standard International definition of
unemployment: “ People are unemployed if they did not work for at least one (paid) hour in the
previous week, were actively seeking work and were able to accept a job in the next week if it
were available”
The measurement of unemployment based on the above definition cannot be considered accurate
as the respondents may give biased answers based on their preferences. The one who have given
up to look after the job are excluded from the unemployment measure. It helps the reduction in
employment rate at least in the data that is projected by the government. However, the reality
may be worse than expected. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have tried to redefine under-
employment etc, where number of hours considered per week are explained.
Cu
ent Scenario of Unemployment in Australia
The unemployment rate in Australia has hit a fourteen month high to 5.9% in Fe
uary, 2017.
The expectation for the same period was 5.7% by the government which has missed by 20 basis
points. A record number of 6,400 job losses have occu
ed in a single month this year. The only
comforting figure was of the rise in number of full time employment by 27,000. However, the
loss in job for full time has been 44,000 for the same time period. It would be unfair, if we judge
too much using latest on month data and derive conclusion.
The rate of under-employment defined by ABS, has increased to 8.7% or 11,00,000 workers. It
confirms that there is a remarkable slack in the job market. This also predicts the fact that the
wages growth for coming years are going to remain subdued in Australia. According to Kate
Hickie, it is expected that employment growth for the cu
ent year would remain modest and the
ate of unemployment will remain around 6%. There are no indications as of now for increase
the employment rate sharply, if that were so, there would have been a rate cut indication to ease
the economy by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
There has been increase in trend of...