Title: Employment: the political economic challenges

Authors: Frank Stilwell

Addresses: University of Sydney, Australia

Abstract: There are three interconnected forces having dramatic effects on employment in the current era - globalisation, downsizing and technological change. These forces are affecting the availability of jobs, the sectoral composition of employment, the nature of working life and patterns of remuneration. The general tendency is for these changes to accentuate the underlying tendencies in the economic system to instability, insecurity and inequality. Alternative strategic responses are to ||go for growth||, emphasise investment in ||human capital||, and to link employment to ||equity and environment|| objectives. Examination of these three scenarios indicates the major political economic challenges facing policy-makers.

Keywords: employment; globalisation; downsizing; technological change; growth; human capital; equity; environment; policy making; unemployment.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.1999.006132

Global Business and Economics Review, 1999 Vol.1 No.1, pp.1 - 16

Published online: 07 Feb 2005 *

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