Issue 1

High youth unemployment in Australia is one of the major labour market issues confronting policies makers. The following study examines the influence of intergenerational effects and geography on the employment prospect of teenagers. Utilising data from the 1991 and 1996 Censuses for the Perth metropolitan region, the study identifies substantially higher than those recorded two decades ago. However, the burden of unemployment has not been borne equally by neighbourhoods within the metropolitan region. It appears that the demographic characteristics of neighbourhoods are a causal factor in the employment outcomes of youths. The implication for policy is that the targeting of individuals at risk of unemployment may not be appropriate unless the relationship between youth unemployment, region and demographic is taken into account.

ROSS KELLY; PHILIP E. T. LEWIS

Page Number - 27

In this study the incidence and depth of child poverty in rural and regional Australia is estimated and compared to those in similar circumstances in the capital cities, using data from the 1990 Survey of Income and Housing Costs and Amenities. The levels of poverty amongst income units of different household size and employment status are also compared across the two different regions. Many widely-held beliefs regarding the extent and depth of child poverty amongst Australian income units, such as those children in poverty coming from large households and where the head is unemployed, are confirmed. However, the most recently held view that the proportion of income units and children in poverty in areas other than capital cities may be much greater than those in capital cities is not supported, especially if the differences in the costs of living and housing in each region are accounted for.

BRIAN DAVIDSON; SHAFIQUL ALAM KHAN; PRASADA D.S. RAO

Page Number - 47

There is a widespread concern that tariffs have differential impacts across the Australian States and Territories. Public policy has tended to focus on the effects of tariff reductions on those regions where jobs will be lost. For a benefiting State, the gains will depend on its structural differences from the other States, and in particular the extent of its export orientation. This paper provides some measures of structural difference between Western Australia (WA) and the other States and provides two estimates of the impacts of tariffs on the WA economy. In the paper the burden of tariffs on WA (a major exporting State) is examined using a method previously employed by Clements and Sjaastad for Australia. The extent to which the benefits of a tariff reduction program are received by WA and how they are distributed are also investigated using a computable general equilibrium model of the State economy. It was found that substantial benefits accrue to the WA economy while the major industry sectors which benefit are mining, transport, wholesale and retail trade and entertainment, agriculture forestry and fishing, and finance and business services.

HELAL AHAMMAD; ROBERT GREIG

Page Number - 67

This paper addresses the role of the Australian local government grants system in promoting efficiency, and examines whether or not the intergovernmental grants process, along with institutional, structural and environmental characteristics, exerts an influence on the efficient provision of local public services. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to obtain measures of technical and scale efficiency across three local government functions; namely, library services, waste management services, and planning and regulatory services. When grant relativities are. regressed against these efficiency indices using simultaneous equation tobit models, the results generally indicate that the desired objective of effort (or policy) neutrality is maintained. However, failure to address issues of optimal scale size, amongst others, may force local councils to provide an inappropriately funded scale of operations. The findings also suggest that deviations from the distribution of financial assistance solely on the basis of horizontal equalisation may be a further influence on inefficient outcomes in the local public sector

ANDREW C. WORTHINGTON; BRIAN E. DOLLERY

Page Number - 95