Undergraduate - UnitECC3710 - Labour economics

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Organisational Unit	Department of Economics
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Youjin Hahn

Synopsis

This unit introduces various theoretical models of the labour market with a focus on policy-related issues. The unit examines neo-classical explanation of labour supply and demand decisions and addresses how well those theories explain observed patterns in the data. In this unit we shall examine employers' incentives and behaviour that determine the labour demand curve, the interaction between wages, income, and the decision to work, the relationship between wages and undesirable job characteristics, and the incentives for and the effects of educational and training investments and contemporary issues such as labour mobility, discrimination and income inequality.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

understand employers' incentives and behaviour that determine the labour demand curve, implications of minimum wage laws, and effects of technological change on labour demand
build conceptual frameworks to analyse various aspects of workers' labour supply behaviour such as whether to work for pay as opposed to consuming leisure or working at home without pay, the choice of occupations with different characteristics, workers' decisions to invest in human capital and other investments designed to improve their earning capabilities, and various policy applications that affect workers' choice between work and leisure
examine contemporary issues such as labour mobility, labour market discrimination and income inequality.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 35%
Examination: 65%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Youjin Hahn

Prerequisites

ECC2000 and ECC2010 or equivalent

Prohibitions

ECC4371