Measuring Minimum Award Wage Reliance in Australia: The HILDA Survey Experience

An important group of interest for industrial tribunals in Australia is those workers who are reliant on awards for their pay and other employment conditions. Research on award reliance and its consequences, however, has long been hampered by the lack of good quality microdata. Most obviously, there are relatively few data sets in Australia that identify the method by which pay is set and also provide detailed information about individuals and the households in which they live. The HILDA Survey, however, is an exception to this, with information about award reliance, and methods of pay setting more generally, being collected for the first time in its 8th survey wave (in 2008). This paper reviews the quality of the data on award reliance that is being collected from this source. It then provides two examples of how these data can inform policy-relevant research questions: (i) to what extent are award-reliant workers found living in income-poor households; and (ii) what role does award reliance play in contributing to the gender pay gap? The results confirm that award-reliant workers are not especially concentrated in poor households, and that for award-reliant workers there is no evidence of any gender-based pay gap.Award reliance, Australia, gender pay equity, HILDA Survey, income distribution, minimum wages

Industrial relations reform in Australia: implications for the agricultural and mining sectors

A major transformation in the processes that underpin industrial relations arrangements in Australia appears to have occurred during the last decade. The tribunal‐based systems of conciliation and arbitration that have shaped labour‐management relationships now play a far less pivotal role, and the system of awards is far less central to the determination of wages and conditions. Greater scope now exists for employees and employers to tailor their industrial relationship to the needs of the enterprise. This article provides an overview of the development of both collective and non‐collective bargaining within the formal framework, and the likely impacts of such developments.International Development,

The Composition of Dust in Jupiter-Family Comets as Inferred from Infrared Spectroscopy

We review the composition of Jupiter-family comet dust as inferred from infrared spectroscopy. We find that Jupiter-family comets have 10 micron silicate emission features with fluxes roughly 20-25% over the dust continuum (emission strength 1.20-1.25), similar to the weakest silicate features in Oort Cloud comets. We discuss the grain properties that change the silicate emission feature strength (composition, size, and structure/shape), and emphasize that thermal emission from the comet nucleus can have significant influence on the derived silicate emission strength. Recent evidence suggests that porosity is the dominant parameter, although more observations and models of silicates in Jupiter-family comets are needed to determine if a consistent set of grain parameters can explain their weak silicate emission features. Models of 8 m telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope observations have shown that Jupiter-family comets have crystalline silicates with abundances similar to or less than those found in Oort Cloud comets, although the crystalline silicate mineralogy of comets 9P/Tempel and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) differ from each other in Mg and Fe content. The heterogeneity of comet nuclei can also be assessed with mid-infrared spectroscopy, and we review the evidence for heterogeneous dust properties in the nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel. Models of dust formation, mixing in the solar nebula, and comet formation must be able to explain the observed range of Mg and Fe content and the heterogeneity of comet 9P/Tempel, although more work is needed in order to understand to what extent do comets 9P/Tempel and Hale-Bopp represent comets as a whole.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Scienc

Re-engaging with Survey Non-respondents: The BHPS, SOEP and HILDA Survey Experience

Previous research into the correlates and determinants of non-response in longitudinal surveys has focused exclusively on why it is that respondents at one survey wave choose not to participate at future waves. This is very understandable if non-response is always an absorbing state, but in many longitudinal surveys, and certainly most household panels, this is not the case. Indeed, in these surveys it is normal practice to attempt to make contact with many non-respondents at the next wave. This study differs from previous research by examining the process of re-engagement with previous wave non-respondents. Drawing on data from three national household panels it is found that the re-engagement decision is indeed distinctly different from the decision about continued participation. Further, these differences have clear implications for the way panel surveys should be administered given the desire to enhance overall response rates.Household panel surveys, survey response, attrition

Gender Differences in Rates of Job Dismissal: Why Are Men More Likely to Lose Their Jobs?

Empirical studies have consistently reported that rates of involuntary job separation, or dismissal, are significantly lower among female employees than among males. Only rarely, however, have the reasons for this differential been the subject of detailed investigation. In this paper, household panel survey data from Australia are used that also find higher dismissal rates among men than among women. This differential, however, largely disappears once controls for industry and occupation are included. These findings suggest that the observed gender differential primarily reflects systematic differences in the types of jobs into which men and women select.dismissals, gender differentials, involuntary job separations, HILDA Survey, Australia

Re-engaging with Survey Non-respondents: The BHPS, SOEP and HILDA Survey Experience

Previous research into the correlates and determinants of non-response in longitudinal surveys has focused exclusively on why it is that respondents at one survey wave choose not to participate at future waves. This is very understandable if non-response is always an absorbing state, but in many longitudinal surveys, and certainly most household panels, this is not the case. Indeed, in these surveys it is normal practice to attempt to make contact with many non-respondents at the next wave. This study differs from previous research by examining the process of re-engagement with previous wave non-respondents. Drawing on data from three national household panels it is found that the re-engagement decision is indeed distinctly different from the decision about continued participation. Further, these differences have clear implications for the way panel surveys should be administered given the desire to enhance overall response rates.Household panel surveys, survey response, attrition

Mid-Infrared Spectrophotometric Observations of Fragments B and C of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

We present mid-infrared spectra and images from the GEMINI-N (+Michelle) observations of fragments SW3-[B] and SW3-[C] of the ecliptic (Jupiter Family) comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 pre-perihelion. We observed fragment B soon after an outburst event (between 2006 April 16 - 26 UT) and detected crystalline silicates. The mineralogy of both fragments was dominated by amorphous carbon and amorphous pyroxene. The grain size distribution (assuming a Hanner modified power-law) for fragment SW3-[B] has a peak grain radius of a_p ~ 0.5 micron, and for fragment SW3-[C], a_p ~ 0.3 micron; both values larger than the peak grain radius of the size distribution for the dust ejected from ecliptic comet 9P/Tempel 1 during the Deep Impact event (a_p = 0.2 micron. The silicate-to-carbon ratio and the silicate crystalline mass fraction for the submicron to micron-size portion of the grain size distribution on the nucleus of fragment SW3-[B] was 1.341 +0.250 -0.253 and 0.335 +0.089 -0.112, respectively, while on the nucleus of fragment SW3-[C] was 0.671 +0.076 -0.076 and 0.257 +0.039 -0.043, respectively. The similarity in mineralogy and grain properties between the two fragments implies that 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 is homogeneous in composition. The slight differences in grain size distribution and silicate-to-carbon ratio between the two fragments likely arises because SW3-[B] was actively fragmenting throughout its passage while the activity in SW3-[C] was primarily driven by jets. The lack of diverse mineralogy in the fragments SW3-[B] and SW3-[C] of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 along with the relatively larger peak in the coma grain size distribution suggests the parent body of this comet may have formed in a region of the solar nebula with different environmental properties than the natal sites where comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) and 9P/Tempel 1 nuclei aggregated.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure, accepted for publication in A

Halley's comet 1985-86: space exploration

A coordinated program to explore Halley's comet in 1985 to 86 is proposed. The program employs a variety of observational systems for remote observations and utilizes spacecraft encounters with the comet to obtain in-situ measurements. Included in the observational network are groundbased observatories, the Space Telescope, a Spacelab cometary observatory, small astronomical satellites, and experiments carried on airborne observatories and sounding rockets. It is assumed that a ballistic flythrough technique will be used to carry out the spacecraft encounters. The proposed strategy calls for the simultaneous launch of two spacecraft towards an intercept with Halley in March 1986. Following the Halley encounter one spacecraft is retargeted to intercept comet Borrelly in January 1988, while the other spacecraft proceeds to an encounter with comet Tempel 2 in September 1988