Youth as a reserve army of labour: Australia's regional unemployment conundrum

Authors

Scott Burrows, University of WollongongFollow
Martin J. O'Brien, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

111634

Publication Details

Burrows, S. & O'Brien, M. J. (2016). Youth as a reserve army of labour: Australia's regional unemployment conundrum. Labour and Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 26 (2), 90-102.

Abstract

This article seeks to apply Marx's Reserve Army of Labour theory to explain youth labour market trends with a case study of the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Statistical analysis of regional ABS labour force data reveals both persistently high youth unemployment rates as well as dominant cyclical activity. Dominant neoclassical economic theory, which implies that any unemployment observed should be infrequent and quickly solved by market forces, fails to adequately account for our observations. In contrast, our findings are congruent with the reserve army and segmented labour market theories. The article contributes new understandings of Marxist concepts to an important regional issue of contemporary policy relevance.