"Labour Force Participation in New Zealand"

Abstract

The thesis is divided into main parts. Part I is analytical, while Part II provides the background information with some analysis and interpretation. Part I concerns the effect on labour force participation of structural and economic factors, based on Census urban cross-section data. The notation is presented in Chapter 2, and some preliminary difficulties of the conceptual scheme are discussed in Chapter 3. An attempt is made to test some limited structural hypotheses in Chapter 4. The data used here are rather aggregated, the participation breakdown being by sex only. In Chapter 5 a more disaggregated breakdown is used, and in addition the response of participation to local employment pressure determined. A macro-economic labour market system is constructed and estimated in Chapter 6. The hypothesis that labour force participation is responsive to cyclical pressures is tested in this chapter. This is relevant to the discussion of "full employment" in New Zealand. Part II comprises Chapters 7 through 11, which give detailed information on New Zealand labour force participation and progress from the largest spatial unit (New Zealand) to the smallest (the urban area). Chapter 11 is something of an appendage to this scheme in that it provides data on Maori-Non-Maori participation differentials. Much of the information of this chapter is derived from a computer run specially undertaken by the Census Branch of the Department of Statistics.