Affiliation: Lecturer in Economics, School of Commerce and Management Southern Cross University Title: an Analysis of Regional Labour Markets in Australia and the Role of Labour Market Programs (lmps)

One of first initiatives of the newly elected Federal Coalition Government in 1996 was to cut funding to regional development and labour market programs (LMP). The justification seemed to be based on the notion that the LMPs were not generating 'real' jobs; simply creating participants for jobs that did not exist. Analysis of ABS census data for regional Australia reveals an interesting pattern in labour market behaviour between 1981 and 1996, namely regional labour markets by generating jobs at a rate that effectively reduced unemployment. This improvement corresponds with the extension and elaboration of LMPs in rural and regional Australia (RaRA), programs specifically designed to address the problem of increasing unemployment. It remains to be seen whether LMPs had run their course or whether their abolition have damaged the capacity of RaRA to reduce structural impediments in their labour markets.