A Framework for Sub-Optimal Employment

Abstract

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 di have is employed in ways that optimize 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 shortfalls in employment. This paper provide a preliminary conceptualization of sub-optimal employment, which emphasis the complexity of the issue under examination by suggesting the extent to which some of employment statuses could be considered sub-optimal.