ABSTRACT
Geoff Harcourt, a committed, lifelong social democrat, has always placed himself in opposition to the twin monoliths of free market capitalism and statedominated socialism. His search for a ‘middle way’ has focused, in particular, on full employment in a democratic society, and the problem of serious and intractable youth unemployment in the 1980s and 1990s has affected him deeply. This paper examines the problem from the perspective not just of demand management and public sector job creation, but also the role of ‘supply side’ policy. Essentially, the global shortage of jobs for young people is a shortage of high-wage, high-skill jobs. While in many countries,including Australia, the evidence suggests that employment opportunities are expanding, and will continue to expand, in high-wage, high-skill occupations and sectors, employment growth for young people over the last decade, especially for young
women, has occurred primarily in low-wage occupations. This is especially so where effective job security and minimum wage regulation is lacking.
