Search

Australia and Canada are global exemplars of skilled migration policy, designed to have important effects on economic growth. This article assesses the development and outcomes of their permanent migration programmes for a range of regulated professions. We compare the matched census data from both countries in 2016 and then examine the key drivers of the major differences found through qualitative interviews. Although the trends in numbers and source countries and characteristics of skilled migrants are similar, their earnings relative to equivalent native‐born earnings are far lower in Canada than in Australia. This reflects the Australian government's greater power to initiate and drive policy reform agendas, early strategies designed to enhance foreign credential recognition and a heightened role for employers including through two‐step migration. Canada has recently announced significantly expanded migration intakes. These seem unlikely to lead to strong economic growth, unless entry requirements are tightened and more targeted support provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contingent valuation methods are well-established techniques for measuring the value of goods and services not transacted in markets and have been applied in many different settings. Some of these applications include estimating the value of outdoor recreation, reducing risk, decreasing pollution, or reducing transportation time. The parameter estimates depend upon the survey design, the model specification, and the method of estimation. Distributional misspecification or heteroskedasticity can lead to inconsistent estimators. This paper introduces a partially adaptive estimation procedure, based on two families of flexible probability density functions [the generalized beta of the second kind (GB2) and the skewed generalized t (SGT)], to adjust for distributional misspecification and accommodate possible heteroskedasticity. Using a linear link function, these methods are applied to the problem of estimating the willingness to pay to protect Australia's Kakadu Conservation Zone from mining. In this application, the assumption of homoskedasticity is not rejected for the GB2 family, but is rejected for the SGT. A Monte Carlo simulation confirms the importance of the homoskedasticity assumption as well as the impact of the bid design. For this example, many of the more flexible distributions are in fairly close agreement with some of their special cases. However, this application illustrates how flexible nested distributions can be used to accommodate diverse distributional characteristics, including possible heteroskedasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on endocrine disruption in Australia have mainly focused on wastewater effluents. Limited knowledge exists regarding the relative contribution of different potential sources of endocrine active compounds (EACs) to the aquatic environment (e.g., pesticide run-off, animal farming operations, urban stormwater, industrial inputs). In this study, 73 river sites across mainland Australia were sampled quarterly for 1 year. Concentrations of 14 known EACs including natural and synthetic hormones and industrial compounds were quantified by chemical analysis. EACs were detected in 88 % of samples (250 of 285) with limits of quantification (LOQ) ranging from 0.05 to 20 ng/l. Bisphenol A (BPA; LOQ = 20 ng/l) was the most frequently detected EAC (66 %) and its predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) was exceeded 24 times. The most common hormone was estrone, detected in 28 % of samples (LOQ = 1 ng/l), and the PNEC was also exceeded 24 times. 17α-Ethinylestradiol (LOQ = 0.05 ng/l) was detected in 10 % of samples at concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.17 ng/l. It was detected in many samples with no wastewater influence, and the PNEC was exceeded 13 times. In parallel to the chemical analysis, endocrine activity was assessed using a battery of CALUX bioassays. Estrogenic activity was detected in 19 % (53 of 285) of samples (LOQ = 0.1 ng/l 17β-estradiol equivalent; EEQ). Seven samples exhibited estrogenic activity (1-6.5 ng/l EEQ) greater than the PNEC for 17β-estradiol. Anti-progestagenic activity was detected in 16 % of samples (LOQ = 8 ng/l mifepristone equivalents; MifEQ), but the causative compounds are unknown. With several compounds and endocrine activity exceeding PNEC values, there is potential risk to the Australian freshwater ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace organic contaminant (TrOC) studies in Australia have, to date, focused on wastewater effluents, leaving a knowledge gap of their occurrence and risk in freshwater environments. This study measured 42 TrOCs including industrial compounds, pesticides, and Pharmaceuticals and personal care products by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry at 73 river sites across Australia quarterly for 1 yr. Trace organic contaminants were found in 92% of samples, with a median of three compounds detected per sample (maximum 18). The five most commonly detected TrOCs were the Pharmaceuticals salicylic acid (82%, maximum = 1530 ng/L), paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen; 45%, maximum = 7150 ng/L), and carbamazepine (27%, maximum = 682 ng/L), caffeine (65%, maximum = 3770 ng/L), and the flame retardant tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (44%, maximum = 184 ng/L). Pesticides were detected in 28% of the samples. To determine the risk posed by the detected TrOCs to the aquatic environment, hazard quotients were calculated by dividing the maximum concentration detected for each compound by the predicted no-effect concentrations. Three of the 42 compounds monitored (the Pharmaceuticals carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole and the herbicide simazine) had a hazard quotient >1, suggesting that they may be causing adverse effects at the most polluted sites. A further 10 compounds had hazard quotients >0.1, indicating a potential risk; these included four Pharmaceuticals, three personal care products, and three pesticides. Most compounds had hazard quotients significantly <0.1. The number of TrOCs measured in this study was limited and further investigations are required to fully assess the risk posed by complex mixtures of TrOCs on exposed biota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the health of Australian immigrants with that of the Australian-born population and examines the extent to which differences vary with time since migration. Health is measured using self-reports of chronic diseases from three national health surveys. Probit models are used to estimate the health effects of immigrant arrival cohorts, years since migration and country of birth. We find that the health of Australian immigrants is better than the Australian-born population, but the longer immigrants spend in Australia, the closer their health approximates that of the Australian-born population. There are variations for different immigrant groups and for particular chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine how the stresses associated with the transition to a new country combined with additional stress arising from a period of unemployment affect the mental health of immigrants. Australian immigrants are found to have poorer mental health at 6 months after arrival in Australia compared with 18 and 42 months. Furthermore, unemployment, and especially a long duration of unemployment, is found to be associated with poor mental health. We found that although immigrant women appear unaffected by their spouses’ labour force status, there is evidence that immigrant men's mental health is affected by spouse labour force status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates differences between the educational attainment of immigrants, children of immigrants and native-born individuals in Australia by using Australian Youth Survey (AYS) data combined with aggregate Australian Census data. Differences in educational attainment are decomposed into: (i) typical demographic and socio-economic sources common to all ethnic groups; (ii) unobserved region of residence and region of origin effects; and (iii) neighbourhood effects such as degree and ethnic concentration of particular ethnic groups in different neighbourhoods. A theoretical model incorporating these effects is proposed but structural estimation is not possible for lack of appropriate data. Instead, a reduced form methodology is proposed and employed. The empirical results identify positive ethnic neighbourhood effects in high school completion and university enrolment for some immigrant groups in Australia, in particular first and second generation immigrants from Asia. The results indicate that it is not just the size of the ethnic network but the 'quality' of the network that is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial action has been the subject of considerable economic research, but most research has focused exclusively on strikes and has ignored the fact that workers can use tactics other than strikes in resolving disputes. The fact that workers engage in forms of industrial action other than strikes raises important questions: What determines the incidence of nonstrike action, and how do these determinants compare with strikes? This article uses a recently developed dispute-level data set of both strike and nonstrike actions in Australian manufacturing to analyze determinants of the incidence of two types of industrial actions: strikes and work bans. Work bans are actions where workers refuse to engage in certain specified tasks such as overtime but otherwise remain on the job. Evidence is found that the incidence of work bans is affected by changes in economic and institutional conditions in significantly different ways than strikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the impact of labor strikes on the financial performance of the manufacturing industry in Australia. Existence of direct and spillover effects of industrial action; Increase in profit margins for companies with greater market share; Effects of labor disputes on employment and revenue.

Focuses on the determinants of the profitability of manufacturing firms in Australia. Firm-level data set of firm performance over the period 1984-93; Estimation of dynamic profitability models over the business cycle; Role of lagged profitability in profit margins; Impact of industry and macroeconomic variables on profit.

Analyzes the earnings of immigrant men in Australia using data from Income Distribution Surveys for 1982, 1986 and 1990. Evaluation of immigrant earnings adjustment; Impact of labor market conditions and conditions at labor market entry on earnings; Macroeconomic effects on the earnings assimilation of immigrants.

Using a unique dispute-level database of industrial action in Australian mining and manufacturing industries, this paper investigates the determinants of the duration of industrial action. For the first time in the Australian literature, the duration of individual disputes is analysed within a hazard function framework that estimates conditional settlement probabilities over the duration of the dispute. Further, the analysis is conducted for both strikes and non-strike forms of industrial action such as bans on working overtime. A range of parametric and semi-parametric specifications are estimated in order to determine the sensitivity of the results to alternative econometric techniques. The duration of both strikes and work bans are found to be affected by a range of factors, including the state of the labour market, industry characteristics, past union experiences and the cause of the dispute. The conditional settlement rate of both strikes and bans are found to be upward sloping, implying that the longer that a dispute has already lasted, the more likely that it is to end. However, failing to control for unobserved heterogeneity results in bias toward declining conditional settlement rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Bayesian network is an alternative approach for predictive trihalomethane formation • The interrelationship between disinfection by-products influencing factors is shown • A higher pH could mitigate monochloramine decay and trihalomethane formation • Conductivity and total dissolve solids can be surrogate measure for bromide ions. Controlling disinfection by-products formation while ensuring effective drinking water disinfection is important for protecting public health. However, understanding and predicting disinfection by-product formation under a variety of conditions in drinking water distribution systems remains challenging as disinfection by-product formation is a multifactorial phenomenon. This study aimed to assess the application of Bayesian Network models to predict the concentration of trihalomethanes, the dominant halogenated disinfection by-product class, using various water quality parameters. Naïve Bayesian and semi-naïve Bayesian models were constructed from Sydney and South East Queensland datasets across 15 drinking water distribution systems in Australia. The targeted variable, total trihalomethanes concentration, was discretised into 3 bins (<0.1 mg L−1, 0.1 – 0.2 mg L−1 and >0.2 mg L−1). The Bayesian network structures were built using water quality parameters including concentrations of individual and total trihalomethanes, disinfectant species (free chlorine, monochloramine, dichloramine, total chlorine), nitrogen species (free ammonia, total ammonia, nitrate, nitrite), and other physical/chemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved solids, conductivity and turbidity). Seven performance parameters, including predictive accuracy and the rates of true and false positive and negative results, were used to assess the accuracy and precision of the Bayesian network models. After evaluating the model performance, the optimum models were selected to be Bayesian network augmented naïve models. These were observed to have the highest predictive accuracies for Sydney (78%) and South East Queensland (94%). Although disinfectant residuals are among the key variables that lead to trihalomethanes formation, potential concentrations of trihalomethanes in distribution systems can be more confidently predicted, in terms of probability associated with a wider range of water quality variables, using Bayesian networks. The modelling procedure developed in this work can now be applied to develop system-specific Bayesian network models for trihalomethanes prediction in other drinking water distribution systems. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are over 40,000 chemical compounds registered for use in Australia, and only a handful are monitored in the aquatic receiving environments. Their effects on fish species in Australia are largely unknown. Mosquitofish ( Gambusia holbrooki ) were sampled from six river sites in Southeast Queensland identified as at risk from a range of pollutants. The sites selected were downstream of a wastewater treatment plant discharge, a landfill, two agricultural areas, and two sites in undeveloped reaches within or downstream of protected lands (national parks). Vitellogenin analysis, histopathology of liver, kidney and gonads, morphology of the gonopodium, and chemical body burden were measured to characterize fish health. Concentrations of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) in water were analyzed by in vitro bioassays and chemical analysis. Estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, anti-androgenic, progestagenic and anti-progestagenic activities and TrOCs were detected in multiple water samples. Several active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), industrial compounds, pesticides and other endocrine active compounds were detected in fish carcasses at all sites, ranging from < 4–4700 ng/g wet weight, including the two undeveloped sites. While vitellogenin protein was slightly increased in fish from two of the six sites, the presence of micropollutants did not cause overt sexual endocrine disruption in mosquitofish ( i.e. , no abnormal gonads or gonopodia). A correlation between lipid accumulation in the liver with total body burden warrants further investigation to determine if exposure to low concentrations of TrOCs can affect fish health and increase stress on organs such as the liver and kidneys via other mechanisms, including disruption of non-sexual endocrine axes involved in lipid regulation and metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]