Education and Skill Mismatches in the Labour Market Workshop

The workshop examined post-compulsory education and skill mismatches in the labour markets of Australia and the UK. A range of competing theoretical explanations were put forward for the incidence and the causes of mismatches, and the resulst of tests using a number of Australian and UK data sets were presented. The distinctions were made between vocational and university education. Empirical results were drawn together to inform the economic policy implications of mismatches at different segments of the education and skills distributions. The impact of credit constraints on education and skill acquisition choices were examined with particular reference to the asymmetries in HECS provision between Australian universities and TAFEs. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the issues that were raised during the day.

The workshop was attended by participants from government education and training departments, the Productivity Commission, as well as academics from several universities. The workshop was opened by Professor Kostas Mavromaras, who gave a brief overview of the topic, and papers were presented by Professor Peter Sloane from the University of Wales Swansea, Professor Paul Miller from the University of Western Australia, Professor Bruce Chapman from the Australian National University and Dr Seamus McGuinness from the Melbourne Institute. Professor Steve Sedgwick, Director of the Melbourne Institute, chaired the panel discussion.

Workshop Program and Papers

This issues raised at the workshop are the focus of the Policy Forum in The Australian Economic Review Volume 40, Number 3, September 2007, in which papers by workshop partipants are featured.

Labour force skills for the future was also the topic of the November 2006 Public Economic Forum held in Canberra, at which Professor Mavromaras gave a presentation titled 'A Skilled Workforce for the Future'.

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Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010