Declining Job Quality in Australia: Another Hidden Cost of Unemployment

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.