Australia

This paper describes the developments in the Australian labor market during the 1990s. In 1994, a number of new labor market programs were launched, directed especially at the long-term unemployed, and a further step was taken in the evolutionary reform of the industrial relations system. The paper reviews developments in employment, wages, and productivity in Australia that formed the background to these policy initiatives. It also examines the conduct of fiscal policy at the Commonwealth and consolidated government levels and describes the fiscal consolidation strategy announced by the Commonwealth government for 1994/95–1997/98.Article IV consultations;Economic conditions;employment, unemployed, unemployment, budget position, tax revenue, fiscal policy, unemployment rate, fiscal consolidation, fiscal impulse, budget balance, public debt, long-term unemployment, government budget, fiscal position, capital expenditure, budget deficit, government budgets, tax cuts, unemployed person, nairu, unemployment benefit, employment growth, public sector employment, job search, tax collections, budgetary position, fiscal performance, local government budget, tax liability, expenditure restraint, national employment, full employment, rate of unemployment, tax rates, budget indicators, unemployed individual, discretionary fiscal policy, total unemployment, aggregate demand, fiscal policy actions, non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment, budget surplus, unemployed worker, rising unemployment, tax base, public finance, foreign borrowing, long-term unemployment rate, fiscal conditions, unemployed persons, tax revenues, fiscal developments, termination of employment, part-time employment, employment opportunities, fiscal stimulus, income from employment, fiscal balance, continuity of employment, local government budgets, reduction in transfers, tax payments, total employment, state budget, fiscal drag, government budget deficit, conditions of employment, private sector employment, decline in unemployment