Labour Market Issues in Melbourne's North
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
City Economy 05 Labour Market Issues in Melbourne’s North Anthony Kent RMIT University Email: anthony.kent@rmit.edu.au ABSTRACT This paper presents background research on labour market change in Melbourne’s northern region. The point of departure for the analysis is 2001 Census data. The author uses the City of Whittlesea in Melbourne’s north as a case study. Whittlesea is a fringe urban area with a rapidly expanding population. It will be shown that bald unemployment statistics are only one indication of labour market disadvantage and that, in the case of Whittlesea, we find behind these figures indications that the local population is experiencing, to paraphrase an expression from housing studies, ‘labour market stress’. Although this is a preliminary paper, a key question has emerged which will be addressed: jobs growth and reduction in unemployment have been steady in Whittlesea between 1991 and 2001. In terms of broader indicators of disadvantage, Whittlesea performs comparatively poorly. Why is this so and what does it have to do with the local labour market? INTRODUCTION This paper presents background research on labour market change in Melbourne’s northern region. The point of departure for the analysis is primarily 2001 Census data and the author uses the City of Whittlesea in Melbourne’s north as a case study. Whittlesea is a fringe urban area with a rapidly expanding population. It therefore presents a challenge for labour market planners in a contemporary context of persistent unemployment in particular locations, the growth of the ‘secondary labour market’ (part-time, casual and temporary jobs) and fundamental labour market and welfare reforms shortly to be introduced by the conservative Federal Government. It will be shown that bald unemployment statistics are only one indication of labour market disadvantage and that, in the case of Whittlesea, we find behind these figures indications that the local population is experiencing, to paraphrase an expression from housing studies, ‘labour market stress’. Although this is a preliminary paper, a key question has emerged which will be addressed: jobs growth and reduction in unemployment have been steady in Whittlesea between 1991 and 2001. In terms of broader indicators of disadvantage, Whittlesea performs comparatively poorly. Why is this so and what does it have to do with the local labour market? APPROACH, METHODS AND CONSTRAINTS Of particular interest is labour market disadvantage which will be interpreted as comprising three essential elements: the extent to which access to employment is restricted, the quality of jobs available within labour markets and upon whom labour market disadvantage impacts most heavily. Indeed, a clear link has recently been Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-1
City Economy 05 shown between the first and second components. That is, the higher the status of the job one holds in terms of skill requirements, stability and income is related to the likelihood that a ‘revolving door’ effect in terms of unemployment/employment or what has been termed ‘precarious employment’, is minimised (Weller and Webber, 2001). The question arose as to how to evaluate Whittlesea other than by a time series analysis of its own characteristics. At this preliminary stage of the research it was felt that the first step should be to make comparisons with metropolitan-wide trends and where appropriate other Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Melbourne’s north. This has the advantage of providing a general sense of how Whittlesea’s workers and jobs fit, as it were, into the broader metropolitan economy. Due to limitations of space and time a number of constraints are imposed for this paper which will be revisited on another occasion. The analysis is partly structured by data availability. The bulk of the information used here is derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2001 Census supported by more aggregated time series data available for 1991 and 1996. Subsequent research will draw on 2006 Census data, interviews and more specific surveys conducted by the author. Rather than viewing this paper as a history of a labour market, it should be understood as a project to identify trends, which will form the basis for a more comprehensive analysis. The nature of the classifications of industry and occupational groupings are also not beyond reproach. Concerns have been raised that the official figures recording the ‘decline in manufacturing’, for example, ignore the increasingly interrelated relationship between the production process and services which aid that process (Houghton et al., 1999). More fundamentally, it has been suggested the ‘top-down’ approach of inherited classifications tends to objectify ‘real’ people, or obscure the voices of those whose livelihoods depend by definition on their labour market status (Gibson et al., 1996; Peel, 2003). Other key phenomena that impact on labour markets are not examined in detail. These are housing markets, transport mobility and government policy 1 . Defining a local labour market is also problematic. Clearly there is an obvious but difficult to elaborate interrelationship between local jobs, jobs held by locals and the broader regional and metropolitan economy. This paper is primarily concerned with local jobs and local working residents, but inevitably in evaluating these, broader links will be considered. CONTEXT: THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIAN CITIES Radical changes in the location, working conditions and sectoral composition of the Australian labour force have been underway since the last quarter of the twentieth century and have involved a restructuring of economic management by both corporations operating in Australia and the Australian state as overseer of the economy. What is occurring is a major transition, from the ‘Australian settlement’, 1 For a discussion of these relationships see, for housing markets, Winter and Stone, (1998), O’Connor and Healy (2002), Dodson (2003), Reynolds and Wulff (2005). For transport mobility see Urban Research Program, 2005. For government policy see Birrell et.al., (2005). Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-2
City Economy 05
‘…an historical accretion of state action assembled since the early 20th
century and built around state policies of protectionism, the centralised
regulation of labour market conditions and controlled immigration…(with)
inherent redistribution mechanisms, for example, towards unionised
workers, onto protected sectors and industries…’ (McGuirk and O’Neill,
2003:12-13).
to
‘…Australian cities… exposed to forces of economic and political restructuring
that are beginning to make for noticeable differences in the established spatial
order…a growing centralization of wealth combined with the selective dispersion
of poverty to structurally vulnerable suburbs’ (Badcock, 2000: 211).
How the ‘spatial order’ has been reconfigured has been examined in detail by Fagan
and Webber (1999) and O’Connor et al. (2001). The number of people adversely
affected has been greatest in the ‘second wave’ of manufacturing suburbs established
on what were fringe locations in the 1970s and are now middle ring suburbs (Fagan,
2000; Randolph and Holloway, 2005). Unemployment in these areas reached well into
double figures in the early nineties and has remained well above the metropolitan
average ever since (McDonald, 1995; Dodson and Berry 2003).
During this period of restructuring, observers of Australian cities also saw an
acceleration of a trend apparent since the Second World War. Increasingly, the
dormitory character of suburban locations has diminished to the point where the full
range of economic activities can now be found there (O’Connor and Healy, 2002).
While this has not occurred to the extent of the United States, where what would
appear to Australians as Central Activity Districts have emerged in the form of ‘edge
cities’, it can be said that Australian cities now comprise a number of overlapping
local labour markets or have become ‘polycentric’ (McDonald, 1995; Freestone,
1998). This is reflected not only in the increased level of self-containment (local
residents who work locally) over time, but in a tendency for each of these local
economies to develop industry specialisations (O’Connor and Healy, 2002). For better
or worse, a subtle and sometimes not so subtle polarisation of industries and local
population skill profiles within suburban areas seems to be occurring and with it a
polarisation of socio-economic conditions (Badcock, 1994; Badcock, 1997; Burke and
Hayward 2000; O’Connor and Healy, 2002). It is not the millstone like legacy of the
‘old economy’ middle industrial suburbs that determines this stratification, but the
ability of particular regions to connect with ‘…the quaternary or informational
sector…substantially linked with economic globalization’s expansion of command
and control functions in transnational corporations, and the concomitant growth of
producer services complexes around those functions’ (Freestone and Murphy, 1998:
287). These functions have a tendency to agglomerate rather than disperse, ensuring
that the spread of benefits they herald is distributed unevenly. The ‘winners’ then are
those locations with connections to national and international markets through
international airports, high tech precincts, industrial estates with a high component of
elaborately transformed manufacturing, high status zones of conspicuous
consumption, ports, airports and communications infrastructure (Stimson, 2001).
Research in the late 1990s (based on the 1996 Census) established a typology of these
areas, and Table 1 provides some pertinent examples as they relate to Melbourne.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-3City Economy 05
Table 1. Communities of the post industrial city
Community General locations Egs of suburbs and municipalities
Advantaged global Around the CBD and inner city, Brighton, Camberwell, Kew,
economies old higher status middle suburbs Malvern, Brunswick, Moonee
Valley, St Kilda, Prahran, Richmond
Advantaged suburban Edges around the first category Heidelberg, Box Hill, Waverley,
economies of areas, or further out towards Nunawading, Ringwood, Knox,
fringe areas Berwick, Cranbourne
Disadvantaged old Middle and outer suburbs Sunshine, Broadmeadows,
manufacturing economies Maribyrnong, Coburg, Preston,
Dandenong
Marginal suburban Outer and fringe suburbs of Keilor, Melton, Whittlesea, Croydon,
communities more affordable housing Casey, Mornington
Outer disadvantaged Ex urban Bass Coast
communities
Source: O’Connor et al., (2001) after Baum et al., (1999).
Figures 1 and 2, display examples of ABS mapping of socio-economic indicators
from the 2001 Census which reinforce in a very visual sense the typologies described
by Baum et al.
O’Connor et al., (2001) argue that Australia is ‘a society dividing’ along the fissures
displayed in Table 1 and Figures 1 and 2. Symbolic analysts 2 (essentially, a group of
well educated information and consultant workers whose job growth is greatest
amongst occupations and salaries the highest) and investment in construction are
over-represented in the first two categories. The converse is true for disadvantaged
old manufacturing economies, where routine production workers 3 are overrepresented
and investment is lower. The more benevolent if ambiguous marginal suburban
economies are the poor relation of the advantaged suburban economies in terms of
investment and the greater number of routine production workers vis a vis symbolic
analysts.
2
Reich’s term (1992). Also referred to as ‘new economy’ workers (O’Connor and Healy, 2002) – an
acknowledgement that in the global information era, these are the jobs of the future.
3
Or ‘old economy’ workers (O’Connor and Healy, 2002), equally an indication that this group
represent the jobs of the past, or at best, a tenuous present.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-4City Economy 05 Figure 1. Tertiary education, 2001 Census. Source: ABS, 2001. Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-5
City Economy 05 Figure 2. Unemployment rates, 2001 Census. Source: ABS, 2001 Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-6
City Economy 05 ON THE FRINGE: RECENT LABOUR MARKET STUDIES ON AUSTRALIAN CITIES Detailed examination of labour markets or more broadly economic conditions in fringe Australian suburbs is not central to the body of knowledge on Australian cities and hence the topic itself is ‘on the fringe’. This is not due to the obscurity of the topic or the quality of the research that has been done. On the contrary, it is paradoxical, given the rapid expansion of the outer suburbs. The explanation is perhaps two fold. First, and quite understandably, it is the older middle ring industrial suburbs that have endured the most disadvantage in recent times (Randolph and Holloway, 2005) although even these it can be argued have not secured the attention they warrant. Second, there has been a tendency for suburbs in general to be painted out of the picture in the ‘discourse of globalisation’ with the attention of policy makers and analysts diverted to the core region as the locale where ‘international connections’ or ‘globalising tendencies’ are seen as more pivotal to economic development, or simply more interesting (Fagan, 1997). Recently regional studies have emerged which have begun to bridge this gap in knowledge. O’Connor and Healy (2002) examined the relationship between housing markets and labour markets across Melbourne. Dodson and Berry (2003, 2004) examined trends in Melbourne’s West and Fagan and others in Sydney’s West (Fagan et al., 2004; Fagan and Dowling, 2005). Study of Melbourne’s northern region specifically is confined to O’Connor’s study of the early 90s (O’Connor, 1993). THE MANY FACES OF WHITTLESEA The first observation about Whittlesea is that it is diverse - in terms of land use, population distribution and as we shall see, the socio-economic status of its residents. Whittlesea is Melbourne’s northern most suburb. 70% of the municipality is in fact non-urban land use and it is only the southern third or so which at present constitutes the built up area. Whittlesea is one of four fringe urban growth areas designated in the state government’s metropolitan strategic plan, and one of five Local Government Areas (LGAs) with industrial land designated in the Victorian Planning Provisions as being of state significance, or in other words, to be protected as such and developed in the future (DSE,2005; CoW, 2005). In the next 25 years green field sites will be developed for residential and employment purposes and the current population of 124,000 is anticipated to grow by 100,000 in the next twenty years. The Western Ring Road is a significant transport route running directly adjacent to the Thomastown industrial area, and continuing west through Hume to the international airport. Across the 1991, 1996 and 2001 Censuses, unemployment in Whittlesea fell steadily while remaining slightly above the metropolitan wide figure. It was never as high as the ‘disadvantaged old manufacturing communities’ of Darebin and Moreland, to its south. Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-7
City Economy 05 Figure 3. The Regional Context - Melbourne’s North. Source: DSE, 2002. Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-8
City Economy 05
18.00
1991
16.00 1996
2001
14.00
12.00
10.00
%
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
Melbourne as a whole Whittlesea Hume Darebin Moreland
Figure 4. Unemployment in Melbourne’s North, Census Years.
Source: ABS, 2003a.
In terms of jobs growth, Whittlesea, like all western and northern outer councils, saw
strong job growth between 1996 and 2001.
Figure 5 Jobs growth by Statistical Local Area, Melbourne, 1996–2001.
Source: Dodson, 2003
We can focus more closely on the significance of job growth and loss across the
northern region by comparing it with working age (20-64) population growth and loss.
As we saw in Table 1, studies of ‘opportunity’ and ‘vulnerability’ based on statistical
analysis of 1996 ABS data regard Whittlesea as neither overtly advantaged nor
disadvantaged but ‘marginal’. At first glance, this ‘middling’ position would seem to
be confirmed by generally encouraging figures: lowering unemployment, high job
growth which is almost matching growth in the working age population and as we
will see shortly, a manufacturing sector which at least is holding steady as the major
employer. Other indicators are more troubling. At each census the ABS also
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-9City Economy 05
10000
Wking age population incr 96-01
Jobs loss/gain 96-01
8000
6000
Nos. of working age
4000
2000
0
Hume Whittlesea Moreland Darebin
-2000
-4000
Figure 6. Growth in Jobs and Working Age Population (20 to 64 y.os.) in
Melbourne’s North, 1996 -2001.
Source: ABS, 2003b Census of Population and Housing 2001 Census unpublished labour force
data
calculates an index of disadvantage - a measurement incorporating indicators such as
low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment and the number of low-
skilled jobs (ABS, 2003c). According to this measurement, at the 2001 census, of the
ten most disadvantaged LGAs in Melbourne, areas, four – Hume (third most
disadvantaged), Whittlesea (fourth), Darebin (fifth) and Moreland (sixth) are in
Melbourne’s North. That is, Whittlesea was rated as being in a worse position than the
‘old industrial’ suburbs of Darebin and Moreland to its south and with Hume was
clearly the most disadvantaged fringe LGA in metropolitan Melbourne. Moreover,
Randolph and Holloway (2005) found it was one of only four LGAs where the
number of collector districts 4 suffering ‘severe disadvantage’ saw a marked increase
between 1996 and 2001. Of course it could be argued that Whittlesea is now catching
up from a particularly adverse position, and this explains its failure to date show a
more desirable disadvantage index in spite of the other positive ABS figures. But this
is not really the case. As we have seen, it never saw the levels of unemployment of
Darebin and Moreland, and severe disadvantage increased between 1996 and 2001.
The question is then if the number of jobs in Whittlesea continues to grow, and
indeed, if its unemployment rate continues to fall, why does it register such
disappointing results in regard to disadvantage and what might this have to do with
the nature and operation of its labour market?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
There are a number of indicators that could be investigated in an attempt to answer
this puzzle that go beyond or build on the variables covered in the Index of
Disadvantage. It is highly likely that deeper trends are hidden behind bald labour
figures provided by the ABS (Mitchell and Carlson, 2000; Barrett, 2005). One hour’s
work a week is the minimum threshold for registering someone as employed. Clearly
this does not necessarily tell us very much about one’s social-economic position, nor
about one’s relationship with the labour market. This leads us to five areas of
investigation that we will explore in this paper. First, what is the character of the local
labour market and in particular what is its shade in terms of a new/old economy
continuum? Second, what is the skill composition of the workforce? Third, what role
4
An ABS measurement of usually 200 to 300 households.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-10City Economy 05 does part-time employment play in the labour market profile and what can be said about its contribution to disadvantage? Fourth, what is the significance of those not detected by the unemployment figures at all – those who drop out of the labour market either intermittently or permanently and in doing so lose wage earning capacity? Fifth, do the generally improved jobs growth and unemployment figures for Whittlesea as whole mask stratification within its borders and how might this inequality be explained? THE CHARACTER OF THE LOCAL LABOUR MARKET First we will examine the key characteristics of labour market participation by Whittlesea residents and jobs within Whittlesea through a close examination of 1991, 1996 and 2001 Time Series Census data and the more comprehensive 2001 Community and Working Population Profiles (ABS, 2003a, 2003d, 2003e). The subtext to this part of the discussion is the prominence or otherwise of well paid secure jobs with a future in the global economy – the ‘prime jobs’. Different authors have developed variations on this theme. The prime jobs are those of symbolic analysts (Reich, 1992), the creative classes (Florida, 2002), C21 workers (Brain, 1999) or the new economy (O’Connor and Healy, 2002). While some blurring at the edges may remain, the categories the present study has inherited via the ABS data that most closely fit these descriptions are the occupations of managers/administrators and professionals and the industries of finance and insurance, property and business services and cultural and recreational services. Recent work has confirmed that growth in full time permanent jobs is increasingly concentrated in these sectors (Borland et al., 2001). The other side of the ledger, the antithesis perhaps, are the ‘old economy’ jobs. These are vulnerable due to reductions in tariff and subsidies, a low skill base and new technology 5 . Labour Market Participation By Whittlesea Residents. Over the three census periods manufacturing clearly remained the main employer of Whittlesea residents with 11,000 out of a working population of just under 50,000, or around 23% finding work in this sector in 2001 (Figure 7). There was negligible growth however and given the increase during this period in the working age population of around 7,000 the sector would appear to be in slow but by no means drastic decline. In comparison with metropolitan Melbourne as a whole (where the Census figures show a decline from 17.3% in 1996 to 15.9% in 2001) in 2001 it clearly employed a higher proportion of Whittlesea residents. As can be seen in Figure 8 below, this has remained the case over a ten year period, with the ratio of manufacturing jobs held by Whittlesea residents to those held by Melbourne workers as a whole hovering between 1.4 and 1.5. Other areas where the proportion is above metropolitan wide percentages include construction, transport/storage and retail trade. All recorded increases with retail trade seeing the highest increase in job numbers of all sectors. Deficits were maintained across a wider range of sectors: all the prime job sectors of finance and 5 Classification here is more complex. Most sub-sectors in manufacturing would appear to fit this bill. Having said that, some manufacturing industries are clearly more sophisticated and export-orientated (‘elaborately transformed’) than others. Such sub-categories include printing, publishing, media, and the manufacture of photographic, scientific, electronic, medicinal and pharmaceutical products and equipment (O’Connor and Healy, 2002). . Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-11
City Economy 05
14,000
12,000
10,000
1991
8,000
1996
6,000 2001
4,000
2,000
0
Accomm, Cafes & Restaurants
Utilities
Manufacturing
Construction
Retail Trade
Mining
Finance & Insurance
Education
Health &Comm Services
Govt Admin & Defence
Comm Services
Cultural and Recreational Services
Transport and Storage
Ag, Forestry & Fishing
Pers & Other Services
Wholesale Trade
Property and Business Services
Figure 7 Number of Residents Jobs by Industry, 1991-2001.
Source: ABS, 2003a.
insurance (which recorded negligible growth in numbers), property and business
services and cultural and recreational services as well as accommodation, cafes and
restaurants, education and health and community services. Most job losses were in
absolute terms were in the area of government administration and defence.
2.00
1991
1.80 1996
2001
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
es
e
s
es
e
ce
s
e
e
es
ts
g
n
n
ce
ag
ce
es
nc
ad
in
ad
io
an
tio
ic
en
ic
ic
ur
vi
iti
ct
vi
ra
or
rv
Tr
Tr
rv
v
ca
ur
ef
er
til
er
er
t
ru
su
Se
St
Se
ac
ta
le
U
D
ail
du
S
S
S
st
In
uf
nd
sa
es
et
&
ss
on
n
m
E
ec
er
an
io
d
R
le
R
ta
in
om
ne
th
C
R
an
at
ho
M
dm
&
O
or
i
ic
l&
C
us
e
W
es
sp
un
&
tA
nc
ra
&
B
af
an
s
m
na
tu
lth
ov
d
er
,C
om
an
Tr
ul
P
ea
Fi
G
m
C
C
rty
H
om
pe
cc
ro
A
P
Figure 8. Ratio of Whittlesea residents jobs to Melbourne SD by industry.
Source: ABS, 2003a
Over the decade, job growth by occupation type occurred almost across the board,
although there has been a quite significant shift in the most prominent occupations.
Tradespersons and related workers, although continuing to grow, have been overtaken
as the leading occupation of choice by the phenomenal growth of intermediate clerical
and sales and service workers 6 , from under 5,000 in 1991 to almost 9,000, or almost
18% of jobs in 2001. This is not the case for the next step on the ‘ladder of
opportunity’ for this group, in ‘advanced clerical and service workers’ - the only
sector to see a steady decline from around 2,500 to 1,500 jobs. The prime occupation
6
According to the ABS definitions of occupational groupings, intermediate clerical, sales and service
workers ‘…perform a range of clerical, sales, and service tasks requiring a limited degree of discretion
and judgement’ (McLennan, 1997:421).
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-12City Economy 05
of professionals saw a strong increase – from around 3,000 in 1991 to 5,000 ten years
later. Managers and administrators less so – a slight increase from just below to just
above 2,000 jobs over the decade. Occupations most prominent in manufacturing
continued to dominate: intermediate clerical, sales and service, tradespersons and
related, labourers and related and intermediate production and transport together
constituted over half of all residents’ jobs.
10,000
9,000
8,000
no. of worker residents
7,000
6,000
1991
5,000 1996
2001
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Advanced Clerical Associate Managers and Professionals Elementary Tradespersons Intermediate Intermediate Labourers and
and Service Professionals Administrators Clerical, Sales and Related Clerical, Sales Production and Related Workers
Workers and Service Workers and Service Transport
Workers Workers Workers
Figure 9 Number of Residents Jobs by Occupation, 1991-2001.
Source: ABS, 2003a
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40 1991
0.20 1996
2001
0.00
Professionals
Professionals
Tradespersons
Labourers and
Clerical and
Production and
Administrators
Clerical, Sales
Clerical, Sales
Managers and
Advanced
Intermediate
and Service
and Service
Intermediate
and Related
Elementary
Associate
Workers
Service
Transport
Workers
Workers
Workers
Related
Workers
Workers
Figure 10. Ratio of Whittlesea residents jobs to Melbourne SD by occupation.
Source: ABS Time Series Data, Whittlesea and Melbourne SD Community Profiles
Analysis of how these comparisons between Whittlesea and Melbourne as a whole
influence overall income is beyond the scope of the present paper. Total average
weekly income figures do show a divergence over the decade between Whittlesea and
the whole of Melbourne in terms of individual income but not family income,
although Whittlesea has remained below Melbourne (Table 2). Household units
(which may include non-family members) are on par with Melbourne as a whole, at
least in terms of the rather broad income ranges used by the ABS. Possibly, this
suggests that having more than one family member in the workforce is an important
strategy for Whittlesea households to raise overall income.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-13City Economy 05
Table 2. Comparison of Income of Whittlesea residents and Melbourne SD
1991 1996 2001
Medium weekly individual income a
Whittlesea $200-$299 $200-$299 $300-$399
Melbourne SD $200-$299 $300-$399 $400-$499
Median weekly family income
Whittlesea $600-$699 $700-$799 $800-$899
Melbourne SD $700-$799 $800-$999 $1000-$1199
Median weekly household income
Whittlesea $600-$699 $700-$799 $800-$999
Melbourne SD $600-$699 $700-$799 $800-$999
Source: ABS, 2003a
a. Weekly income is the income before tax, superannuation, health insurance, or other deductions are
made and includes: family allowance, parenting payment, pensions, unemployment benefits, student
allowances, maintenance (child support), superannuation, wages, salary, overtime, dividends, rents
received, interest received, business or farm income (less operation expenses) and worker's
compensation received.
As can be seen in Figures 8 and 10 above, the ratio per sector of local residents’ jobs
to jobs in Melbourne overall has changed very little over ten years. Broadly speaking
then, Whittlesea working residents have over time ‘settled in’ to a particular
configuration of long established employment and occupation types within the
broader metropolitan market, despite the tumultuous economic restructuring, new
technology and economic recession that continued into the 1990s and the increase in
the resident workforce of 18,830 or 27.4%. This is reminiscent of the ‘sorting process’
described by O’Connor and Healy (2002): those of a particular profile or preferences
gravitate (or as they reach working age remain in) areas providing employment and
housing opportunities that align with their career profile, income and lifestyle (in
Whittlesea’s case, the detached suburban family home). In this sense, the labour
market profile of working residents is ‘conservative’. Further evaluation is difficult at
this stage: should this comparative stasis be interpreted as stability or inflexibility?
One thing is clear: in comparison with the whole of Melbourne, there has been very
little movement in the profile of working residents towards new economy jobs and
‘creative classes’ jobs (cultural and recreational services) in relative terms, and with
the exception of property and business services, in absolute terms. Indeed, if we look
more closely, we find a divergence between Whittlesea and Melbourne SD in regard
to these sectors.
Figure 11 shows that employment in ‘population driven’ industries in health and
community services, education, construction and especially retail trade ran ahead of
Melbourne as a whole. Numbers employed in the ‘new economy’ sectors of
property/business services and (to a far lesser extent) finance/insurance grew in real
terms but fell behind in relative terms. Manufacturing, the mainstay of employment
for Whittlesea residents fell behind as an employer.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-14City Economy 05
5.00
Whittlesea working residents
Melbourne SD
4.00
3.00
% 2.00
1.00
0.00
Business Services
Retail Trade
Admin. & Defence
Manufacturing
Accomm. Cafes &
Transport &
Personal & other
Insurance
Construction
Education
Wholesale Trade
Communication
Recreational
Finance &
Community
Services
Cultural &
Health &
Storage
Services
Government
Restaurants
Services
Property &
services
-1.00
Figure 11. Jobs growth by industry sector 1996-2001 as a proportion all jobs in
1996, Whittlesea working residents and Melbourne SD compared.
Source: ABS, 2003a
a. Jobs growth per sector 96-01 over total jobs 1996. For example, Whittlesea saw a growth of 1,709
amongst residents working in the retail sector between 1996 and 2001. The total number of jobs held
by residents in 1996 was 49,685. Jobs growth is for this sector is therefore 1,709/49,685 = .0343 x 100
= 3.43%.
4.5
Whittlesea working residents
4 Melbourne SD
3.5
3
2.5
2
%
1.5
1
0.5
0
Advanced
Professionals
Professionals
Tradespersons
Clerical &
Labourers &
Production &
Administrators
Clerical, Sales
Clerical, Sales
Intermediate
Service
Intermediate
Managers &
Transport
Elementary
Associate
& Service
& Service
Related
& Related
-0.5
-1
Figure 12. Jobs growth by occupation group 1996-2001 as a proportion all jobs
in 1996, Whittlesea working residents and Melbourne SD compared.
Source: ABS, 2003a
Figure 12 shows a strong bias in jobs growth amongst Whittlesea residents toward the
unskilled professions on the right of the graph and conversely not keeping pace with
growth across Melbourne in the skilled managers/administrators and professionals to
the left. The rate of growth for tradespersons and associate professional compensates
for these deficits in these well paid professions so that the overall trends in the
proportion of skilled and unskilled jobs held by residents has remained similar over
time (Tables 3 and 4).
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-15City Economy 05
SKILL COMPOSITION OF THE RESIDENT WORKFORCE
There are two points to made in regard to Tables 3 and 4 below. First, if we consider
Whittlesea working residents as an entire group, there is clearly a lower skill profile
than Melbourne as a whole. Second, amongst Whittlesea working residents, and
indeed amongst all Melbourne workers, there has been negligible change in the
proportions of high skilled and unskilled workers.
Table 3. Skill levels, Melbourne SD, Recent Census Years (%)
nos.
change
Occupation 1991 1996 2001
91-01
(%)
Associate Professionals 8.0 11.7 11.7 71.2
Managers & Administrators 8.8 8.1 8.5 19.3
Professionals 17.8 19.6 21.0 45.6
Advanced Clerical & Service 7.7 4.8 4.0 36.1
Tradespersons and Related 14.4 13.0 12.0 2.5
High skilled total 56.6 57.2 57.3 24.3
Intermediate Clerical, Sales & Service 13.3 16.7 17.2 59.1
Elementary Clerical, Sales and Service 11.9 9.3 9.9 2.1
Intermediate Production and Transport 9.2 9.0 8.1 8.1
Labourers and Related Workers 9.0 7.8 7.5 3.0
Low skilled total 43.4 42.8 42.7 21.1
TOTAL 100.0 100.0 100.0 n.a.
Other measures
White collar high skilled 42.2 44.2 45.3 31.7
White collar low skilled 25.2 25.9 27.1 32.2
White collar total 67.4 70.1 72.4 31.9
Blue collar high skilled 14.4 13.0 12.0 2.5
Blue collar low skilled 18.2 16.9 15.6 5.6
Blue collar total 32.6 29.9 27.6 4.2
Source: ABS, 2003a.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-16City Economy 05
Table 4. Skill levels, Whittlesea, Recent Census Years (%)
nos.
change
91-01
Occupation 1991 1996 2001 (%)
Associate Professionals 6.5 9.3 9.6 94.7
Managers and Administrators 4.7 4.5 4.6 29.3
Professionals 8.7 9.7 10.7 62.0
Advanced Clerical & Service 6.6 4.0 3.4 31.6
Tradespersons and Related Workers 17.2 16.5 15.6 19.5
High skilled total 43.8 44.0 43.9 32.6
Intermediate Clerical, Sales & Service 13.1 17.0 18.5 87.7
Elementary Clerical, Sales & Service 12.7 10.5 11.8 22.8
Intermediate Production & Transport 16.4 15.7 13.8 11.5
Labourers & Related 14.0 12.7 11.9 13.3
Low skilled total 56.2 56.0 56.1 32.2
TOTAL
White collar high skilled 26.6 27.5 28.3 41.02
White collar low skilled 25.8 27.6 30.3 55.69
White collar total 52.4 55.1 58.6 48.25
Blue collar high skilled 17.2 16.5 15.6 20
Blue collar low skilled 30.4 28.4 25.8 12.33
Blue collar total 47.6 44.9 41.4 14.92
Source: ABS, 2003a.
Again we see the ‘stasis’ characteristic of Whittlesea’s labour market noted above, in
spite of the shifts within the skilled and unskilled categories we identified in Figure
12. What can we discover about Whittlesea jobs?
Table 5. Skill Levels. 2001 Census, Melbourne SD and Whittlesea Jobs (%)
Melbourne
Whittlesea
SD
Managers & Administrators 7.3 8.3
Professionals 16.3 20.6
Associate Professionals 9.0 11.4
Advanced Clerical & Service 3.0 3.9
Tradespersons & Related 14.8 11.8
High skilled 50.4 56.0
Intermediate Clerical, Sales & Service 14.3 16.9
Elementary Clerical, Sales & Service 10.6 9.7
Intermediate Production and Transport Workers 13.2 7.9
Labourers and Related Workers 10.6 7.4
Low skilled total 48.6 42.6
TOTAL 100.0 100.0
Other measures
White collar, high skilled 35.5 44.3
White collar, low skilled 24.8 26.5
White collar total 60.4 70.9
Blue collar, high skilled 14.8 11.8
Blue collar, low skilled 23.8 15.3
Blue collar total 38.6 27.0
Source: ABS, 2003d, 2001f
Although the data in this case does not allow us to identify trends over time, it is clear
that in 2001 Whittlesea jobs provided a lower skill profile than Melbourne as a whole
– but this discrepancy is not a as marked as that between Melbourne SD and
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-17City Economy 05
Whittlesea working residents. The explanation for this lies mainly in the fact that
managers/administrators and professionals are the only classifications where the
number of jobs in Whittlesea match the number of jobs held by residents (Figure 14) –
figures made all the more significant when we recall that only about 25% of
Whittlesea working residents work in Whittlesea.
Comparison of qualifications supports the data on the skill levels of the local
workforce. Note that although the rate of increase in the number of tertiary educated
residents has outstripped the rate of increase for metropolitan Melbourne (and the
numbers for postgraduate qualifications remains very small, growing from 180 in
1991 to 463 in 2001), the gap in the proportions of the population with this level of
education has widened. The proportion of residents with no qualifications has
certainly decreased but less than for Melbourne SD.
Table 6. Qualifications for Persons Aged 15 years and over 1991-2001,
Whittlesea and Melbourne SD
Melbourne SD Whittlesea
Growth Growth
Qualification 1991 1996 2001 91-01c 1991 1996 2001 91-01
Post Graduate degree 1.1 1.4 2.1 108.5 0.3 0.4 0.4 157.2
All tertiary qualifications 9.3 12.8 16.1 90.5 3.5 5.5 6.8 153.3
Advanced Dip. & Certs. 17.1 17.8 19.2 87.8 15.1 16.7 18.6 56.9
No qualifications a 60.3 56.6 51.1 -3.2 70.0 67.1 63.9 16.2
Not stated b 12.2 11.4 11.4 3.1 11.2 10.5 10.3 18.8
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 n.a 100.0 100.0 100.0 n.a
Source: ABS, 2003
a. Includes ‘inadequately described’
b. Includes persons who do not have a qualification and persons who have a qualification out of
scope of the Australian Standard Classification of Education
c. Growth in absolute numbers
The relationship between local jobs and local residents
The interrelationship between the nature of jobs available locally and jobs which
locals actually hold is an obvious but by no means straightforward issue. In all fringe
LGAs in Melbourne, working residents greatly outnumber local jobs (with the
exception of Hume with a local job/local worker ration of 0.89). In Whittlesea’s case
the ratio of local jobs to local workers is 0.52. Looked at another way, the proportion
of Whittlesea working residents who work in Whittlesea is 28%. Self-containment for
other outer LGAs is Casey (25.6%), Wyndham (35.2%), Cardinia (37.9%) and Hume
(36.1%) (ABS, 2003b).
Unfortunately we do not have journey to work data by occupation and industry. We
do know that most of the three quarters of residents with jobs outside the municipality
gravitate towards the ‘old industrial’ area of Darebin to the south, (12.7%), the City of
Melbourne (12.6%), and the manufacturing stronghold of Hume (10.2%) (City of
Whittlesea, 2005).
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-18City Economy 05
No. jobs in
14,000
Whittlesea
12,000
No. of jobs
10,000 held by
residents
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
nt s
ce
ge
es
de
g
e
de
n
es
n
s
s
es
ply
ri n
es
c
atio
tio
ice
trie
ra
fen
vic
tra
ura
an
ra
vic
rvic
vic
ct u
up
c
st o
v
il t
us
er
tru
uc
ur
de
al e
er
st a
er
rs
er
se
fa
ta
in s
ls
nd
Ed
ns
s
nS
&
ss
&
re
nu
l es
te
Re
na
er
ni ty
i
Co
ort
wa
e&
min
ry
es
ti o
Ma
&
ho
o th
atio
ma
sp
u
fe s
si n
a
c
W
ad
&
mm
nic
an
&
an
re
Pr
s
ca
Bu
t
l
ga
c
Tr
Fin
u
na
co
en
re
mm
,
&
on
rso
ty,
rnm
&
&
ty
ti
Co
ici
l
h
Pe
da
er
ura
ve
alt
ct r
op
mo
Go
He
lt
E le
Pr
Cu
co
Ac
Figure 13. Industries - comparing jobs of Whittlesea residents with Whittlesea
jobs, 2001 Census
Source: ABS Expanded Community Profile and Working Population Profile, Melbourne SD and
Whittlesea
In Figure 13, manufacturing and health and community services stand out as the
industries with large numbers of workers that are most self-contained. Indeed, self
containment within the main manufacturing sub groups is high: 73% for food and
beverages, 75% for the textiles group, 91% for the petroleum group and 41% for
machinery and equipment (ABS, 2003g). But the new economy sectors of finance,
insurance, property and business services have the lowest levels of self-containment.
Combined with the data in Figures 7 and 8 this indicates that new economy links are
weak, both in terms of the local labour pool and local jobs. As a disproportionate
number of these jobs are located in inner Melbourne (O’Connor and Healy, 2002),
this in all probability is where these Whittlesea residents commute. The only industry
where there is a clear deficit in the labour supply of working residents is education.
No. jobs in Whittlesea
8000
No. of jobs held by
residents
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Advanced Clerical Elementary Clerical, Tradespersons Intermediate Clerical, Intermediate Labourers Associate Professionals Managers and
and service sales and service sales and service Production and professionals adm inistrators
transport
Figure 14. Occupations - comparing jobs of Whittlesea residents with Whittlesea
jobs, 2001 Census.
Source: ABS, 2003 Expanded Community Profile and Working Population Profile, Melbourne
SD and Whittlesea
For occupations, there are clear surpluses in local labour supply with the notable
exceptions of the two most well paid and secure sectors – professionals (which
includes teachers) and managers and administrators. As we saw in Figure 9, the rate
of increase in the number of professionals, from around 3,000 to 5,000 between 1991
and 2001, suggests the gap is closing over time. The growth rate for managers and
administrators has been modest.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-19City Economy 05
PART-TIME WORK IN WHITTLESEA: GROWTH TRENDS IN
DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS
Part-time and casual work has increased dramatically in Australia recently, and the
implications of this trend have been discussed widely amongst academic as well as
media commentators (Campbell et al., 2005). We do not have data on casual
employment at the LGA level. As 70% of part-time work in Australia is casual, much
of what we have to say about part-time work probably applies to casual work as well.
We have seen how job growth for Whittlesea residents, has, at a sectoral level,
diverged from that of Melbourne as a whole and is becoming more ‘population
driven’ (Figure 11 and 12). The question is then to what extent does this divergence
influence the rate of part-time work?
Table 7. Hours Worked and Jobs Growth, Selected Sectors, Whittlesea Working
Residents
____________________________________________________________________
Jobs
growth
Part- Standard 1996- Total no.
Time b Hrs c 2001 of jobs d
Industries a
Cultural & recreational services 44 39 50 848
Accommodation, cafes, restaurants 48 29 49 1,648
Property & bus. services 28 43 33 4,404
Construction 15 51 31 3,596
Retail trade 45 31 30 7,999
Education 36 29 27 2,140
Health & community services 44 39 20 1,803
Personal and other services 26 44 19 1,580
Transport and Storage 18 38 9 2,271
Govt. admin & defence 36 56 7 1,128
Finance & insurance 28 43 6 1,930
Wholesale trade 16 31 5 2,731
Manufacturing 11 60 >0.01 11,210
Communication services 17 38 -0.05 1,087
Occupations
Elementary clerical, sales & service 60 25 28 5,521
Professionals 23 45 25 5,067
Intermediate clerical, sales & service 23 35 24 8,744
Associate professionals 16 42 18 4,544
Managers & Administrators 23 45 16 2,212
Tradespersons & related 12 56 7 7,216
Labourers & Related 33 49 7 3,125
Advanced clerical & service 38 45 2 1,604
Intermediate production & transport 15 53 >1 6,457
______________________________________________________________________________
Source: ABS, 2003a, 2003g.
a. Primary industries and utilities excluded due to very low nos.
b. 1 to 34 hrs per week
c. 35 to 40 hrs per week
d. Excludes small no. of ‘not stated’ and ‘inadequately described’ responses
We are not concerned with hours worked in excess of standard hours, as this opens up
a new field of enquiry beyond the scope of the present paper (see Healy, 2000 and
Burbridge and Sheehan, 2000 for trends and implications). From Table 7, a general
observation can be made: as we move up the ‘job growth ladder’, the more likely are
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-20City Economy 05 we to find a large proportion of part-time jobs. The inverse is also generally apparent: those jobs with the lowest rates of part-time work also have the lowest rates of growth (and the highest proportion of standard hours jobs). One sector which runs against the trend is advanced clerical and service. Although a high number (38%) of jobs in this sector were part-time, jobs growth has been minimal. This is the only skilled sector to display both a high rate of part-time work and low rates of growth. In other words, the main source of high skilled part-time work is in decline. While space denies us much discussion of part-time jobs within Whittlesea, it can be confirmed that the part- time/full-time mix is generally similar across sectors (ABS, 2003d). It is difficult to draw firm conclusions on whether the character of job growth amongst residents is leading to a disproportionate level of part-time employment relative to the whole of Melbourne. The trends in job growth suggest a propensity for part-time work is developing, and this is backed by what trend data the ABS makes available. In Figure 7 we noted most job growth in the ‘population-driven’ sectors of retail trade, health and community services, education and construction. All bar construction are in the top five in terms of proportions of part-time work. While these rankings are very similar for Melbourne as a whole, growth in these sectors is still outpacing Melbourne. A similar picture emerges in regard to occupations. When we turn to the aggregated trend data, we find that from a situation in 1991 where 21.9% of residents worked part-time compared with a metropolitan-wide figure of 25.4%, by 2001 the gap had closed so that the figures were 28.9% and 31.1% respectively. The proportion of part-time work amongst the ‘new economy’ professions is lower in Whittlesea. As full-time permanent job growth Australia-wide is concentrated in skilled white collar professions, this implies that part-time work in these sectors is more likely to be by choice than necessity and therefore, Whittlesea residents may be facing limited choice in regard to the hours they work. A further point is that tradespersons, production and transport and labourers occupations also have a higher proportion of part-time work than the whole of Melbourne. To generalise, these are more likely to be male-dominated occupations. To generalise further, we would not expect such a demographic group, in such occupations, to embrace part-time work ‘voluntarily’. At one level, part-time work only represents labour market disadvantage for the individual worker if such workers prefer to work full-time. In other words, part-time work may indeed be quite advantageous if it accords with personal requirements. It is important then to consider the extent to which this is the case in Whittlesea if we are to evaluate the part-time labour market in terms of disadvantage. There are several possible explanations for any increase in part-time (and casual) work (Borland et al., 2001; Campbell et al., 2005). Some of these reflect in large measure ‘worker choice’: demographically driven preferences (mothers caring for children, grown up offspring caring for elderly parents) and education needs (an increasing number of tertiary students). It is reasonable to argue then that the three most relevant demographic groups that create the demand for part-time work are women in their thirties who might be caring for dependent children and mid to late year secondary and tertiary students. Conversely, the group least likely to seek part-time work may be men aged 40-54. Table 8 shows the status of these groups in regards to actual part-time work, preferences for part- time work and unemployment. Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-21
City Economy 05
Table 8. Key Demographic Groups and Part-time Work, Whittlesea and
Melbourne SD, 2001
% unemp.
% working part- % looking for p/time
time unemployed work
Age group Whittlesea Melb. Whittlesea Melb. Whittlesea Melb.
Working women
15+ 44.9 45.1 8.1 7.0 41.5 45.9
Working women
30-39 48.7 45.0 7.4 6.1 47.0 44.0
Working persons
15-24 41.6 48.7 14.3 15.3 35.7 45.4
Working men 40-
54 12.5 12.0 5.9 5.6 8.1 9.9
Source: ABS, 2003b.
The data in Table 8 shows little variation between Melbourne SD and Whittlesea,
however two exceptions are worthy of comment. First, there is comparatively less
interest and involvement by the 15-24 age group in part-time work, although why this
may be is unclear. Second, while the proportion of working men aged 40-54 working
part-time is slightly higher than Melbourne-wide, it is clearly lower for those seeking
it. We must be wary in generalising, but this hints that relative to Melbourne as a
whole, this group of Whittlesea residents are comparatively more likely to find
themselves in part-time work when they don’t really want it.
THE LABOUR MARKET - DROPPING OUT OR STAYING IN? HOW
WHITTLESEA COMPARES
Table 9 reveals that Whittlesea has fared worse than Melbourne SD in terms of labour
market participation amongst the working age population. The gap has widened
considerably between the 1991 and 1996 Census, in spite of the decline in
unemployment, which was similar in the rate of decline for Melbourne SD (Figure 4).
To explore this trend further, figures for males between the ages of 40 and 54
specifically were examined. This was the traditional bread winner cohort during the
‘long boom’ of the third quarter of the twentieth century (Fagan et al., 2004). At the
very least this age group still represents the key years for potential earning capacity
and expenditure for males. The Whittlesea group, as a proportion of all working age
persons, is greater by a factor of four and half in comparison with the Melbourne-wide
figure, which at the 2001 Census represented 1,533 persons. One explanation is that
significant numbers of men who are now in this age group were retrenched in the
early 90s (at the 1991 Census, unemployment reached 13%) and were not looking for
work when the 2001 Census was taken. This may explain the numbers but not the
discrepancy, as this group saw high unemployment all over Melbourne in this period.
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-22City Economy 05
Table 9. Labour Market Participation, Whittlesea compared with Melbourne
SD, 20-64 year age group
1991 1996 2001
Whittlesea % of working age population out of the 22.5 26.8 27.6
workforce
Melbourne CD % of working age population out of
22.0 23.6 23.1
the workforce
Whittlesea % of men 40-54 yo out of workforce
4.0 7.9 8.2
over total working age population.
Melbourne SD % of men 40-54 yo out of workforce
0.9 1.2 1.8
over total working age population.
Source: ABS 2003a.
STRATIFICATION WITHIN WHITTLESEA
Fagan et al., (2004), Dodson (2003) and Dodson and Berry (2003) found pockets of
high unemployment persisted within LGAs recording strong employment growth.
Dodson and Berry’s study of Melbourne’s west also focussed on the impact on
unemployment of master planned housing estates (in particular Caroline Springs), the
Western Ring Road and investment in industrial development. Not only did they find
that these developments did not decrease local employment relative to the general
decline in unemployment across metropolitan Melbourne, but polarisation in
unemployment levels had developed between the estates (low employment) and
adjacent areas (high employment). Given these recent findings, it would be useful to
examine Whittlesea in light of the fact that master planned housing estates, a freeway
connecting the Hume Highway and Western Ring Road and two new industrial and
high technology estates are either already being built or are planned for construction
in the near future (DSE, 2003). The following maps were compiled from 2001 Census
data at the collector district level. There is any number of socio-economic factors that
could be examined, but for this preliminary paper, skilled trades and migrants were
chosen as both are particularly prominent sub-groups in Whittlesea, with the latter
group traditionally finding a strong source of employment in manufacturing (Fagan
and Webber, 1999). Data was only available for Whittlesea’s established southern
suburbs.
Figure 15 is revealing in a number of respects. It shows a polarisation of levels of
unemployment between the housing estate suburb of Mill Park to the north-east (built
in the 1970s) and the older residential area to the south west adjacent to the
Thomastown industrial estate and the Western Ring Road (built in the 1950s and
1960s). In other words, unemployment is highest directly adjacent to where low-
skilled employment is also highest. The observations of Fagan et al. (2004) and more
specifically Dodson and Berry (2003) on Melbourne’s west would seem to apply
again here. Whether it is the case that these jobs are taken by outsiders is debateable.
Although Whittlesea as a whole has a self-containment rate of around a quarter, in
2001, the ABS Statistical Local Area (SLA) of Whittlesea South which covers
established suburbs shown here represents at 41%, the fifth highest level of self-
containment of all SLAs in Melbourne. 10,161 out of the 24,551 workers in
Whittlesea South also live there. Furthermore, between 1996 and 2001 it had fifth
Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-23City Economy 05 highest increase in the number of jobs with 4,838 more people finding work in this SLA (ABS, 2003c). Figure 15. Established Suburbs In Whittlesea, Rates Of Unemployment, 2001. Source: ABS CDATA 2001 Figure 16. Whittlesea Migrants with Poor Proficiency in English, 2001. Source: ABS CDATA 2001 Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-24
City Economy 05 Figure 17. Whittlesea Residents with Vocational Qualifications, 2001. Source: ABS CDATA 2001 Figures 15 to 17 shows concentrated spatial correlations between high unemployment, low proficiency in English and low levels of vocational qualifications located in the Thomastown area with the opposite effect apparent in the Mill Park estate area. In more general terms, this suggests the relationship between housing markets and labour markets is powerful indeed. As correlations only, all these indicators require further interrogation, and it will be interesting to see what trends are apparent by the time of the 2006 Census. CONCLUSION This paper began by identifying a contradiction regarding the City of Whittlesea. On the one hand ABS data showed job growth, declining unemployment and a steady level of manufacturing employment during the 1991, 1996 and 2001 Censuses. But on the other hand it showed that by 2001, Whittlesea had a poor ranking in terms of disadvantage as defined by the ABS Index of Disadvantage. Indeed between 1996 and 2001 the number of collector districts enduring severe disadvantaged had seen one of the largest increases in Melbourne (Randolph and Holloway, 2005). The author then examined labour market trends that might advance our understanding of this contradiction by comparing trends in Whittlesea with Melbourne overall in an attempt to draw out local characteristics. First, the configuration of employment patterns amongst Whittlesea residents was examined and showed a trend towards ‘population driven’ sectors, in particular retail trade. At a closer level of examination, it also showed a trend away from Labour Market Issues Melbourne’s North CITY ECONOMY 05-25
You can also read
