>> So does Australia now have lots of U.S.-style low-wage insecure jobs?
>> How's the working class done by all this dereg?
>>
>> Doug
>
> Yes to "insecure". Real wages have fallen significantly in the last 30 years
> but this has been softened by an increased "social wage" and a falling cost
> of living (compared to other OECD countries anyway). The aristocracy of
> labour has done well; not so much everyone else.
Well, there is a great big mystery. Australia is practically in a recession - and would certainly be in one if the building sector fell to realistic levels. (Building is in la-la land right now.) Demand for our stuff is low and we are running a very large trade deficit, made worse by severe draught. Our wages are much less -ahem- 'flexible' than US wages, and employment conditions far less boss-friendly. Yet full time jobs are supposedly going up.
Thiago