Discussion of Labour-Productivity Growth and Relative Wages: 1978-1994

Philip Lowe’s paper raises several interesting and overlapping issues which merit discussion. The experiences described for productivity in Australia have both similarities and dissimilarities with the experience of other countries. If we look at the restructuring phases in recent years in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand, for example, they are characterised by substantial increases in labour productivity. These increases have occurred in both the downturns and the subsequent upturns. Thus, in the first phase, they were accompanied by substantial unemployment increases. The first question here, therefore, is whether the Australian case is qualitatively different with much more of the pressure of restructuring being taken in the form of a decline in real wages.