Conversations with an eminent labour economist: Stephen Machin

ShM: What do you think are the key issues in labour economics? SM: Well, there are quite a lot of them, and they have moved over time in various ways. particularly the big picture things. If you go back, quite a way back, to the 1970s and the 1980s, unemployment was obviously a big issue, but with l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian journal of labour economics 2019-01, Vol.22 (1), p.1-4
Main Author: Maani, Sholeh A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations
Economists
Education
Inequality
Labor economics
Labor market
Mathematical models
Policy sciences
Skills
Society
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:ShM: What do you think are the key issues in labour economics? SM: Well, there are quite a lot of them, and they have moved over time in various ways. particularly the big picture things. If you go back, quite a way back, to the 1970s and the 1980s, unemployment was obviously a big issue, but with lower unemployment rates today it has a somewhat reduced research profile. Other contemporary labour market questions have come to the fore. For example, real wage stagnation has become a big deal in many countries as has the rise in inequality over the last 30 years, which has occurred differentially in different places. Certainly, big increases in inequality in America and Britain, and other countries have followed suit to a certain extent more recently. Inequality has gone up, and therefore, less of a fair sharing in rewards in the labour market.
ISSN:1328-1143