Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 6—Labour 243
A century of change in the Australian labour market
Introduction
This article examines unemployment,
employment by industry, and trade union
membership, and describes some of the major
changes in these aspects of the labour force
over the twentieth century. There are also data
on the use of child labour in factories in
Australia earlier in the century, and its decline
later in the century.
Unemployment rate
Unemployment is an important economic and
social indicator that has been measured and
recorded in Australia throughout the twentieth
century. The way in which unemployment is now
measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) dates
back to 1960. Prior to this, a measure of
unemployment was available from the reporting
by trade unions of the number of unemployed
members on an annual basis from 1906 to 1954,
with less frequent data from 1891. These
unemployment statistics are not directly
comparable over time, but some broad time series
comparisons are possible. The unemployment
rates presented are calendar year averages.
The unemployment rate has fluctuated
throughout the century, with peaks and troughs
closely reflecting movements in the economic
cycle (graph 6.44). In 1906, unemployment
stood at 6.7%, and fluctuated at around this rate
(though it rose briefly to a little over 9% in 1915,
and just over 11% in 1921) until 1929 when
unemployment stood at 11.1%. The
unemployment rate then increased rapidly to
19.3% in 1930, before reaching a peak of 29.0%
in 1932, in response to the economic conditions
of the Great Depression. This unprecedented
high rate of unemployment persisted for two
years, before the unemployment rate fell rapidly
to below 10% by 1937. During World War II,
unemployment in Australia reached a new low
of 1.1%. This marked the beginning of a
sustained period of low unemployment, with
the unemployment rate generally remaining
below 3% until the early 1970s.
From the early 1970s until the early 1990s, rises
in the unemployment rate reflected the
business cycle, as well as industry and
organisation restructuring. A further notable
characteristic of the unemployment rate during
this period was the persistence of relatively high
rates of unemployment following economic
downturns. In 1975 the unemployment rate
stood at 4.9%, reaching 6.3% in 1978 and 1979.
This higher rate of unemployment was not
reversed in the early 1980s. By 1983 the
Australian economy had experienced another
economic recession and the effects were
manifested in a substantial increase in the
unemployment rate to 10.0%. The
unemployment rate recovered to 6.2% in 1989.
It then increased again, reaching a peak of
10.9% in 1993 following the severe economic
downturn of 1990–91. The unemployment rate
has been generally falling since then. By 1999 it
had fallen to 7.2%, slightly higher than it was
near the beginning of the century.
Employment by industry
The composition of Australian industry has
changed dramatically over the last century.
Australia has evolved from an economy heavily
reliant on primary industries and the production
of goods, to one in which industries providing
services have assumed increasing importance.
This article draws on Keating (1973), 1 time
series from 1910–11 to 1960–61, and industry
data from August 1966 from the Labour Force
Survey, to provide a broad account of the
changes in employment by industry.
In terms of the proportion of all employed
persons, the particular importance of the
primary and manufacturing industries over the
first half of the century is apparent.
Employment in the primary industries
(predominantly mining and agriculture)
together with employment in the manufacturing
industry accounted for just over half (52%) of
total employment in 1910–11, but was in slow
decline or static through most of the next three
decades. War-related activity was accompanied
by a return to 1910–11 proportions (52%) in the
early 1940s. The pattern of sustained slow
decline in the relative importance of primary
and manufacturing industries resumed after the
war, continuing to the present day. By 1999,
employment in these industries was reduced to
19% of all employed persons. Service industries
such as wholesale and retail trade, finance,
education, health and personal services have
grown to take over as the major industries of
employment.