Female earnings in 1981 and 1991: A comparison

AbstractThis paper provides a detailed and comprehensiveexamination of female relative earnings over the period 1981to 1991. Comparisons are made with male estimates. Thedata are disaggregated by sector of employment, revealingimportant and differing underlying trends. In the publicsector, for example, the return to education fell for bothmales and females. In the private sector there was a rise inthe relative earnings of female high school and diplomagraduates, and a decline amongst female degree holders.Private sector male degree holders experienced an increasein their relative earnings

Self-employment: Who are Australia's entrepreneurs?

AbstractRecent years have seen a dramatic growth in the incidence of self-employment, particularly amongst owner managers of incorporated enterprises. Excepting the numerous studies of self-employed migrants, little is known about the general characteristics of the broader community of self-employed persons and, in particular, the extent and determinants of entrepreneurship. Using ABS data from the 1998 Forms of Employment Survey this paper provides some insight into the nature, characteristics and determinants of self-employment in Australia. Amongst other things the results in the paper provide some evidence to support the theory that Professionals, Associate Professionals and migrants from non-English speaking background countries are entrepreneurial and not simply seeking self-employment as a refuge from unemployment

An empirical analysis of the career expectations of women in science and technology courses

Using data from a recent survey of first year university students, this study examine the career and occupational expectations of students enrolled in science and technology courses as a way of shedding further light on the labour market outcomes of women in these fields. It has been suggested that women's apparent lack of career success in science and technology stems from factors such as their lack of motivation and career commitment. Findings in this study show shared career goals and expectations between young male and female science technology students, but differences in expected family care plans. Young women typically see themselves balancing work and family responsibilities through engagement in part-time work, while young men typically envisage that they will work full-time and take on the main breadwinner role. The findings highlight the likelihood of an ongoing masculine culture within science and technology and call for efforts to ensure quality part-time work if the industry is to avert ongoing skill shortages and retain highly qualified women who hold similar career aspiration to men

Registered nurses: Who are they and what do they want?

Using 1981 and 2001 Census data together with primary data from a 2002 survey of RegisteredNurses in Western Australia, this paper profiles the nurse workforce. Amongst other things thepaper reports on a high level of pay dissatisfaction, particularly amongst younger nurses. Hoursof work also emerges as an important issue, with many RNs employed on a part-time basis andmany more indicating they would prefer to work fewer rather than more hours. The demandsof work and family are shown as impacting on these preferences with 30.6% of RNs reportingdifficulty in balancing these conflicting demands. In the absence of any renewal strategy theaverage age of nursing continues to grow. This age structure will change as RNs retire; onethirdof all RN respondents to the 2002 survey plan on leaving the profession before 2008. Asizeable proportion of those who plan to leave are in the 26-30 age group. The paper shouldsound a number of alarm bells for those engaged in nurse workforce planning

The development of the UK television news industry 1982-1998

This thesis examines and assesses the development of the UK television news industry during the period 1982-1998. Its aim is to ascertain the degree to which a market for television news has developed, how such a market operates, and how it coexists with the 'public service' goals of news provision. A major purpose of the research is to investigate whether 'the market' and 'public service' requirements have to be the conceptual polarities they are commonly supposed to be in much media academic analysis of the television news genre. It has conducted such an analysis through an examination of the development strategies ofthe major news organisations of the BBC, ITN and Sky News, and an assessment of the changes that have taken place to the structure of the news industry as a whole. It places these developments within the determining contexts of Government economic policy and broadcasting regulation. The research method employed was primarily that of the in-depth interview with television news management, politicians and regulators: in other words, those instrumental in directing the strategic development within the television news industry. Its main findings are that there has indeed been a development of market activity within the television news industry, but that the amount of this activity has been limited by the particular economic attributes of the television news product. What makes the provision of television news a worthwhile venture for news organisations is the degree to which television news confers status and political legitimacy upon its provider. To this end, 'public service' programming goals continue to be present in commercial news outlets

Equal pay in W.A.

Notwithstanding more than 30 years of equal pay within Australia,females continue to earn significantly less than their malecounterparts. Recent data indicates that nationally the adjustedgender wage gap in hourly earnings in the full-time labour market isaround 10.5 per cent. In Western Australia (WA) the equivalent gapis significantly higher, equal to 18.5 per cent. Previous researchexamining the extent of gender wage inequality within WA has beencriticised for failing to adequately control for gender differences inhours of work in the full-time labour market in WA. This paper revisitsthe issue of female wage inequality in WA using alternative data sets.The results confirm the robustness of previous studies and furtherhighlight the large and significant wage gap within the state. Theresults should make interesting reading for those associated with thedevelopment of policies to achieve equal pay in WA

The changing Australian labour market: Developments during the last decade

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Characteristics & determinants of self-employed women in Australia

Recent years have seen a strong growth in female employment and, with it, a rise in the level of female self-employment. Between 1985 and 1999 the latter increased by 25.6 per cent. By 1999 women accounted for nearly one third (31.3 per cent) of all (unincorporated) self-employed workers. Notwithstanding the strong growth in the level of female self-employment and their importance within this sector, little is known or understood about female self-employment. This paper makes a modest attempt to fill this gap. Using shift-share analysis as well as multivariate techniques the paper examines the incidence, growth and characteristics of self-employment disaggregated by gender. Comparisons are made in relation to wage and salary employment

Teaching Multilingual Composition Through Literature: An Integrated Process Approach

Drawing on studies in first and second language composition, an argument can be made for integrating writing, reading, and critical thinking skills to promote writing competence and better ensure academic literacy for first-year multilingual student writers. This essay first presents the rationale for incorporating literature into an integrated process approach. Such an approach emphasizes the reader’s response to a text combined with critical-thinking strategies and meaningful prompts for composition. Next, examples of reading and writing exercises are presented to demonstrate a possible integration of skills. Sample exercises illustrate the progression from initial exploration, through informal writing tasks, to guidelines for structured formal assignments. Encouraging students to do frequent daily writing for a variety of purposes while gaining facility with strategies for writing from texts in ways that are both personally meaningful and academically significant are important goals to help students make gains in their overall critical literac

Deregulation and relative wages: Stability and change in Australia

In Australia the pace of labour market deregulation has rapidly accelerated overthe 1990s. This paper uses the recent developments in the Australian labourmarket to provide further insight into the effects of deregulatory policies on labourmarkets and labour. Does labour market deregulation have an equivalent impacton different labour market groups? Two wage indicators (the gender pay gap andthe wage differential between part-time and full-time workers) are used to answerthese questions. The paper shows that over the first half of the 1990s there wasno change in the gender wage gap in the full-time labour market (equal to 10.5per cent), a 12.6 percentage point convergence in the gender wage gap in thepart-time labour market, and a 3.4 percentage point convergence in the parttime/full-time wage gap. Changes in the part-time labour market may beattributed to a deterioration in the relative earnings of males employed part-time