Australian Labour Market Essay

592 Words3 Pages

Labour market institutions intervene in the Australian Labour Market to support and influence sections of the labour market. Through the intervention of these institutions, a perfectly competitive labour market cannot exist as external factors other than the demand and supply of labour are influencing wages and level of employment. These institutions include trade unions, employer associations and the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

Trade unions represent employees and perform the role of negotiating terms of employment. These negotiations lead to the creation of agreements regarding pay and working conditions. Trade unions also act on the behalf of their members in relation to concerns and issues that arise within their workplaces. Trade unions have the ability to influence wages and working conditions through their collective bargaining power. The greater the number of employees who become members of the union, the more influence the union has as their representation supports a larger proportion of the workforce.

Membership of trade unions has declined since the 1990s, falling from 41% to 12.5% …show more content…

Employer associations aim to increase the level of deregulation and to limit wage growth which both positively impact the rate of growth and profit of a business. A current issue that they are attempting to improve on the behalf of businesses is the lack of skilled workers available domestically to fill positions. The Australian Industry Group (AIG) supports policies established to obtain skilled migrants who can fill the shortage. Due to the pandemic, prior migration intake was capped at 160,000 workers, however, this year, the cap on the intake has increased to 190,000 skilled migrant

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