An estimate of the equity effects of labour market programs
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Date
2001-01Affiliation
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social ResearchMetadata
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Webster, Elizabeth and Johnson, David (2001) An estimate of the equity effects of labour market programsAccess Status
Open AccessDescription
This paper was funded by grants from the ARC and Faculty of Economics and Commerce, University of Melbourne. Thanks are due to David Smith from the ABS, Lesley Longstone and other participants at the Australian Labour Market Workshop 2000. Views expressed represent those of the authors. All errors remain the responsibility of the authors.ISBN 0734015046, ISSN 13284991.
Abstract
Labour market programs aim to enhance both total employment and equality of job opportunities. While the employment effects have been studied extensively in Australia and overseas, the effects on equality has scarcely received any attention. The existing literature implies that any assistance to a disadvantaged group will promote equality. However, because many programs operate by substituting one group of people for another, the effects on equity cannot be determined until some estimates are made of the type of person who has been displaced. This study attempts to present comparative information on the types of people who benefit and lose from the provision of labour market programs. It is found that expenditure on labour market programs, as they were constructed under Working Nation, favours people with more disadvantaged work histories and lower household incomes compared with an alternative of higher levels of health and education expenditure.