Anthea Bill

Networks and geography: Modelling community network structures as the outcome of both spatial and network processes

This paper focuses on how to extend the exponential random graph models to take into account the geographical embeddedness of individuals in modelling social networks. We develop a hierarchical set of nested models for spatially embedded social networks, in which, following Butts (2002), an interaction function between tie probability and Euclidean distance between nodes is introduced. The models are illustrated by an empirical example from a study of the role of social networks in understanding spatial clustering in unemployment in Australia. The analysis suggests that a spatial effect cannot solely explain the emergence of organised network structure and it is necessary to include both spatial and endogenous network effects in the model.

Labour Underutilisation in Metropolitan Labour Markets in Australia: Individual Characteristics, Personal Circumstances and Local Labour Markets

There has been a growing awareness that the issue of labour market disadvantage is substantially greater than merely considering unemployment and the ability to find a job. There is an increasing literature that points to the advantages of considering a broader concept which accounts not only for those people who are traditionally unemployed, but also for individuals who are underemployed and those who are sub-unemployed or discouraged workers. Taking multidimensional survey and census data for Australian metropolitan regions, this paper applies a broad employability framework to an understanding of labour underutilisation which presents the risk of underutilisation as a function of individual characteristics, personal circumstances and the impact of local labour market characteristics. The analysis finds that the risk of labour underutilisation is associated with a range of individual characteristics and personal circumstances together with the characteristics of the metropolitan local labour market.

Job mobility and segmentation in Australian city labour markets

There are many differences between the cities and their counterparts for the motivations and the transitions of the jobs. This paper attempts to extend these findings using four waves of Household Income and Labour Dynamics Australia (HILDA) data, to examine whether cities do promote greater levels of mobility and whether primary and secondary labour market participants display different patterns of search and occupational transition in urban areas.

Unemployment in Non-Metropolitan Australia: integrating geography, social and individual contexts

Abstract Despite a significant period of strong economic and jobs growth nationally, there is well-established evidence in Australia that the proceeds of this growth have not been shared equally, either between places or between individuals. Empirically, it is well known that particular socioeconomic groups have a higher risk of unemployment and it has become equally well established that there are particular geographic patterns of labour market disadvantage that suggest that local geographic context is also important. What is not well understood are the ways in which phenomena at the geographic level are associated with individual-level characteristics and other social contexts in ways that negatively impact on a range of social outcomes, including unemployment. The present paper specifically addresses this issue by using a multi-scalar approach and using survey data from the Housing, Income and Labour Force Dynamics Australia (HILDA) survey and aggregate level census data to model unemployment risk. The paper argues that to better understand unemployment and to add to sound policy development, approaches that incorporate a variety of contexts, including the impact of local geographies, are important.