Maori pakeha differentials in incomes and hours worked: a study of sample data for selected occupations

Studies which compare Maori and non-Maori incomes have used either aggregate census data or a non-representative sample. This study uses 8 very restrictive samples drawn for the 4 occupations which employ the most Maori then and the 4 which employ the most Maori women. It is found that there are significant differences in the hours worked by the Maoris and pakehas in the samples. When hours worked plus age and location are controlled for there are no significant earnings differences for 7 of the 8 occupations. The results suggest that policies to improve Maori earnings must continue to be directed at the factors which affect occupational choice and job assignment

Labour market flexibility and the quality of work: a case study of the retail

The view that labour market flexibility will lead to benefits for everyone is far obvious. This paper analyses changes in retailing over the last decades. It finds that much flexibility has been achieved in the industry. Recent legislative changes have played an important role in these changes. Processes of deskilling, casualization, juuenalization and feminization are being intensified. The effects the quality of working life for retail workers are examined. It is found that retail workers are having to pay a high price for the flexibilities achieved by their employers

Industrial Relations in the Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland and New Zealand are alike in many respects. They have similar-sized populations and similar climates; agriculture has an unusual prominence in their national economies and industrial development is strongly encouraged. In addition, both were once British colonies and have similar legal and political systems with English as their majority language. Despite these, and many other similarities, the two countries have markedly different industrial relations systems. In contrast to New Zealand's state-regulated system, the Irish system is notably voluntaristic, multi-unionism is the norm and Irish unions compete for membership with British-based unions. There are many other differences and this paper highlights the main aspects of the Irish system, covering the collective bargaining system, the union and employer organisations, legislation, Ireland's experience with national pay agreements, participation in management, picketing policy, union restructuring and public sector industrial relations

Low pay and industrial relations: the case of contract cleaning

A key feature of the present government's economic strategy has been to directly, and indirectly, undermine pay and conditions of employment. Unemployment, although an inevitable by-product of the government's industrial and monetary-fiscal policies, has been blamed on the wage fixing system and on the levels of pay. In tum, the government and employer interests have been able to use the growth of unemployment as a legitimization of their attacks on the pay fixing system and the level of pay. Real wages, both gross and net, are now lower on average than when the present government was first elected in 1984 and the thrust of current government policy is to lower them further. This decline in real gross wages has been far from evenly shared. While the lowest quintile of wage earners experienced a fall in real income of 3.5 percent between September 1984 and the end of 1987, the top quintile experienced an increase of 1.1 percent. Real net wages for the lowest quintile fell by 0.4 percent while those of the top quintile rose 4.5 percent (Brosnan and Wilkinson, 1989, Table 2)

The concentration of unemployment experience in spells of long donation: An analysis by age and sex

Estimates of the completed duration of unemployment are prepared by the generation life table method. It is found that the duration of unemployment spells increases with age. However younger workers have a higher probability of becoming unemployed. Thus their higher unemployment rate is due to more, but shorter spells of unemployment. The rise in the unemployment rate for males in recent years is primarily due to an increasing duration of unemployment. When we decompose unemployment by length of spell, we find that spells of 13 weeks and longer account for between 70 and 90 percent of all significant unemployment. These results call into question the theoretical base of Government's current employment policy

How does New Zealand compare? Some international comparisons of disaggregated unemployment data

This paper describes the underlying pattern of New Zealand's unemployment experience (to the extent that the very limited data permit) and compares it with the pattern in Australia, Norway, the UK and USA. It is shown that although New Zealand's unemployment rate is low by international standards, the distribution of unemployment is more inequitable and that the actual unemployment rates for some sub-groups in New Zealand are approaching, and at times exceeding, unemployment rates for equivalent sub-groups in the other four countries

How does New Zealand compare now? International comparisons of disaggregated unemployment data

This article updates Hicks and Brosnan's 1982 study which compared disaggregated unemployment data for Australia, Norway, the UK and the USA with similar data from New Zealand. It is found that women, youth and non-white workers bear a disproportionate share of the unemployment burden and the unemployment burden is distributed more inequitably in New Zealand than in any of the other 4 countries

Minimum Wage Systems: An Asia Pacific Perspective

Modern minimum wage systems have operated for more than a century. Some Pacific countries were among the pioneers in establishing minimum wages. This paper discusses the many aims that minimus wages are designed to achieve. These include promoting social justice, alleviating poverty, promoting economic development, setting benchmarks for other wages and social security payments, and controlling inflation. The Asia Pacific region has only a small number of countries with adequate minimum wage systems. There are many deficiencies in the various systems. They often do not cover all workers, are often set at unrealistically low levels, or are enforced inadequately. The paper discusses the causes of these deficiencies and the consequences of them for those who rely on minimum wages

Why are Casual Enployment and Casualisation Less Significant in New Zealand than in Australia?

New Zealand and Australia seem to share a common experience of casual work. In both countries a category of 'casual' has long been permitted under labour regulation, and in both countries this has led in practice to both 'irregular ' and 'regular' casuals. At least up until the recent period, labour regulation in both countries sought to limit casual employment in similar ways through quantitative restrictions and through prescription of a 'casual loading ' on the hourly rate of pay. Yet, in spite of these strong parallels, casual employment is less significant in New Zealand as a proportion of the total workforce and it has failed to show the same pace of growth as in Australia. This paper asks why there should be this difference. It sketches out an answer that focuses on employer calculations and choices (within the framework of labour regulation, including custom and practice). We suggest that the relative advantages of casual employment to employers are narrower and less imposing in New Zealand. This is partly because of compression at the bottom, as a result of the fact that all employees can claim access to basic rights and benefits under a statutory 'minimum code’. But also crucial is compression from the top. Permanent workers in New Zealand have fewer benefits than permanent workers in Australia, but their situation was markedly worsened as a result of the radical program of labour market deregulation in the 1990s. As a result of this narrowing of the shortfall in rights and benefits, employers have less incentive to replace permanent workers with casual workers

New Zealand labour force participation: the ninety years to 1981

This paper emanines labour force participation in New Zealand from l891 to 1981. It commences with a brief review of previous work in the area and then draws upon data from the New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings to investigate participation races. Age-specific data for Maoris, non-Maoris and Pacific Island Polynesians are analysed and male rates are compared with female rates. The paper concludes by identifying unresolved questions requiring further research