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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2009.00595.x Byline: HIELKE BUDDELMEYER (1), WANG-SHENG LEE (1), MARK WOODEN (1) Keywords: C23; C25; J64; J31 Abstract: This article uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey to examine the extent to which the relatively high rates of transition from low-paid employment into unemployment are the result of disadvantageous personal characteristics or are instead a function of low-paid work itself. Dynamic random effects probit models of the likelihood of unemployment are estimated. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we find that, relative to high-paid employment, low-paid employment is associated with a higher risk of unemployment, but this effect is only significant among women. We also find only weak evidence that low-paid employment is a conduit for repeat unemployment. Author Affiliation: (1) Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Article note: Dr Hielke Buddelmeyer, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Level 7, Alan Gilbert Building, The University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia. Email: hielkeb@unimelb.edu.au

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2007.00395.x Byline: MARK WOODEN (1), NICOLE WATSON (1) Keywords: C81; D10; J10 Abstract: The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is Australia's first nationally representative household panel survey. This article reviews the achievements of the HILDA Survey since its inception in 2001. It briefly describes the design of the survey and the data collection process, provides summary statistics about response and respondent characteristics, and reviews key research findings that have been published using the first four waves of data. Author Affiliation: (1)Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Article note: Correspondence: Mark Wooden, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Level 7, Alan Gilbert Bldg, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic., 3010, Australia. Email: m.wooden@unimelb.edu.au

The accepted view among psychologists and, increasingly, economists is that household income has statistically significant but only small effects on measures of subjective well-being. Income, however, is clearly an imperfect measure of the economic circumstances of households. Using data drawn from the 2002 wave of the Household. Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, this paper demonstrates that wealth, which can be viewed as providing a degree of economic security, is at least as important to well-being and ill-being as income.

There appears to be widespread consensus, at least in industry and government, that enterprise bargaining has been beneficial for productivity. Many academics, however, have argued that the link between bargaining structure and workplace productivity is a contentious one, and that research has been unable to establish a relationship. The present paper re-examines the existing evidence. The review reinforces the need to exercise caution before asserting that enterprise bargaining is necessarily beneficial for workplace productivity. The main conclusion that emanates from this review, however, is not the absence of a clear-cut finding, but how poorly developed the relevant research literature is.

Australia's industrial relations arrangements have undergone several significant changes since 1987. Foremost of the observed changes is the decentralization of formal bargaining systems, which has increased the range of non-collective and decentralized collective agreements. A dramatic decrease in the levels of industrial disputes is another major transformation in Australia's labor relations systems. Before the 1980s, Australia ranked fifth on the list of the most strike-prone countries in the world. However, industrial dispute levels dropped rapidly in the 1980s.

Trade union membership in Australia is explained by using data extracted from the workplace through the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey testing a model of supply and demand. Researches utilizing individualized data did not completely represent the significance of the supply side of union membership. Unionization was dependent on the size of the firm, the number of unions represented and the attitude of management.