2006 Conference Papers
"Framework for examining sub-optimal employment"
- Ann Dupuis and Nick Taylor
Paper presented to the 12th Conference on Labour, Employment and Work, 15-16 November, 2006. Victoria University of Wellington.
Demographic projections for New Zealand indicate there will be major labour shortages in the future, which will not be met through either natural increase in population or immigration. It is therefore necessary that for New Zealand to retain and/or improve its current economic position, the labour force we do have is employed in ways that optimise outcomes for individuals, families/whanau and communities on the one hand, and businesses, enterprises and institutions on the other. At present, there is inadequate information about the labour market and employment due, in part, to the way many employment-related measures are defined. Additionally the importance given to two specific measures - official unemployment and labour force participation - as indicators of a buoyant labour market, provide an incomplete picture of the complex and increasingly diverse patterns of employment in New Zealand. While most measures used in New Zealand mirror those used internationally and thus allow for large-scale international comparisons, much more could be done to understand sub-optimal employment. This paper provides a preliminary conceptualisation of sub-optimal employment, which emphasises the complexity of the issue under examination by demonstrating the extent of employment statuses that could be considered sub-optimal.
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"Variation in multiple job holding rates among women with young
children as an indicator of worklife balance."
- James Newell and James Baines
Paper presented to the 12th Conference on Labour, Employment and Work, 15-16 November, 2006. Victoria University of Wellington.
Labour markets are in a constant state of change, in both scale and composition. Policy analysts and researchers alike have an interest in tracking such changes over time. Statistics NZ is the major source of data on labour markets, and various statistical surveys and census keep us updated at varying frequencies, from quarterly to 5-yearly. For policy purposes, frequency and timeliness of monitoring data are important. The Household Labour Force Survey is therefore used as the statistical basis for monitoring various aspects of New Zealand labour markets, including trends in employment and unemployment levels. However, comparison of various statistical data sets reveals substantial differences in estimates as data are disaggregated, or as data refer to less universal (i.e. minority) labour market phenomena. Which data set is likely to be more accurate? Is reduced accuracy a casualty of survey sampling, weighting and estimation procedures?
"Multiple job holding - A working option for young people."
- Rebecca Osborne and Julie Warren
Paper presented to the 12th Conference on Labour, Employment and Work, 15-16 November, 2006. Victoria University of Wellington.
This paper considers the motivations and experiences of young people who are multiple job holders. The research is based on structured face-to-face interviews with 73 people aged 18-34 years who worked in café/restaurant and/or creative occupations. Young people working in either occupational group were ambivalent about why they held multiple jobs: they reported wanting to work in this way and also having to, for financial and other reasons. However, whereas those in café/restaurant jobs often saw multiple job holding as a transitional work arrangement to support themselves and their lifestyle while they pursued other activities, those in creative occupations tended to view multiple job holding as a long-term working arrangement. Despite the negative impacts multiple job holding had on many aspects of their personal and social life, most young people described multiple job holding overall as a positive experience. These findings add to our understanding of the range of work options now taken by younger workers and point to some policy implications.
"An approach to more integrated planning and management of tourism
in natural areas: a case study of the Catlins in New Zealands wild
south east."
- Nick Taylor and Janet Gough
Paper presented to the 12th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Vancouver 3-8 June, 2006.
Natural areas attract considerable tourism growth, with increasing public concern about managing the effects of tourism on the natural areas and their host communities. The focus of this research is development of a more integrated approach to planning and managing natural areas for tourism and related activities in New Zealand, adopting a coordinated application of tools rather than the common focus on single tools to solve part of a complex problem. These tools include methodologies, frameworks, and responses to issues that arise in the contexts of integrated planning and management, including social, political and cultural contexts. The Catlins case study is one of four action-research studies used to develop and extend the integrated approach. The Catlins, encompassing an area in south-east New Zealand, has natural values including indigenous forests, a wild and varied coastline and marine wildlife. The case study analysed the strengths and weaknesses of particular tools, and practical aspects of capacity building relating to use of these tools to help implement a community strategic tourism plan across several small communities. Six sets of tools broadly inform the recognition and setting of limits to tourism growth and activity; processes around community participation in strategic planning; social, biophysical and cumulative impact assessment; valuation and allocation of natural resources for tourism; land-use and tourism planning; and marketing and interpretation to attract and direct visitors, modify their behaviour and enhance their experience. Together, the tools provide the basis for building community, industry and agency capacity to manage natural areas in a more integrated manner for tourism.
"Getting on with integrated impact assessment: one set of guiding
principles - many methods"
- James Baines and Bronwyn Morgan.
Paper presented to the annual conference of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide, 18-19 September 2006.
There are many practitioners who are already engaged in doing integrated impact assessments in some form. At the same time, there are many practitioners and potential clients who are still wondering how integrated impact assessments can be done. This paper draws on a contemporary review of international integration practice and an historical overview of the evolution of impact assessment in general, and suggests how these two lines of practice could merge, yielding an emerging set of key questions aimed at helping teams of practitioners to develop their own practice of integrated impact assessment. The main messages from the paper are practically focused: build outwards from your current practice and current strengths; integration is not methodologically prescriptive; integration does not happen by accident, it happens by design; time and resource constraints are likely to influence the degree of sophistication that is possible; better documentation of integrative practice will support learning by others and self-improvement.
"The potential influence of multiple job holding on official
statistics describing the rural workforce: Issues for data series
and workforce policy."
- Nick Taylor, James Baines, James Newell.
Paper presented to the annual conference of the New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society 2006.
The research programme on multiple job holding identified substantial discrepancies between the Census and HLFS series regarding the increasing level of rural multiple job holding 1981 to 2001. Furthermore, evidence from the Time Use Survey suggests that the distribution of second job occupations does not match those for first jobs. This result and qualitative data indicate answers to census questions could lead to under-reporting of some rural occupations hidden as second jobs. Any under-reporting of the scale and form of the rural labour force in official statistics has implications for understanding rural occupations and industries, and formulation of rural policies.