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The 2009 program will comprise three stages (continuing on from 2008):
Purpose
This project will investigate which types of workers continue in employment beyond age 65 years.
Methodology
We will follow the passage of two cohorts of workers aged 65 younger than in 1996 (aged 45 – 54 and 55-64 respectively ) in a survey undertaken 10 years later (where they are aged 55 – 64 and 65-74) to see which groups of workers remain employed in terms of their skill and education levels, how the skill requirements of their jobs change and how their remuneration changes. This will give us a better sense of whether older workers remain in the labour force through choice or necessity. This will provide us with information about the types of policies that may be necessary to encourage labour force participation beyond the current pension retirement age.
The analysis would utilize data from the 1996 Survey of Aspects of Literacy (SAL) and the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) Survey. Both surveys include information on skill requirements, employment status, individual literacy skills and earnings of people up to age 74 years. The comparison of the two surveys further allows an examination of changes over time for a specific cohort, allowing us to estimate ageing effects on their labour force participation.
Specifically, we will aim to estimate where in the 1996 distribution of income the workers who remained employed in 2006 came from – were they predominantly from the top of the distribution, which would suggest financial factors are not the main reason for their continuing in work, or from lower down the distribution. We will use regression and matching techniques to make these comparisons.
Methodology
Since over-education among younger cohorts may result in skill mismatches for younger workers, the empirical analysis would focus on workers of younger age groups and compares their situation to older workers. Specifically, occupational changes, changes in skill use measures and changes in skill (mis)matches would be assessed by comparing workers aged 25-29 years observed in 1996 to workers aged 25-29 years in 2006.
The results derived from this analysis permit inferences about the extent to which over-education has taken place among younger age cohorts. The analysis would be based on data from the 1996 Survey of Aspects of Literacy (SAL) and the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) Survey, which include information about skills required in the workplace and individual skills of workers in different occupations and industries and allow an investigation of changes over time.
Specifically, we will undertake regression analysis of the extent to which younger workers report they use their literacy skills given their completed level of education. If over-education effects operate, the parameters on completed education levels will be smaller in 2006 than 1996. We will then incorporate measures of the actual skills of individuals to assess how the education and training-related parameters change and what happens to their pattern over time.
Purpose
This project will investigate how literacy and numeracy use at work differs across English-speaking countries and how it has changed over time.
Methodology
The project would extend the literacy and numeracy use at work scales developed in 2008 to the analysis of job requirements in other countries and to assess how these requirements have changed over the past decade. The picture of the changing requirements that emerge could be compared with other approaches to assessing such change, such as shifts in the occupational distribution towards ‘high-skilled’ occupations. The analysis may aid our understanding of changes in productivity performance between different countries.
The analysis would utilize data from the 1994-1996 International Adult Literacy Survey (or Survey of Aspects of Literacy as it was called in Australia) and the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) Survey. Both surveys include information on skill requirements, employment status and literacy skills of individuals. A comparison of the relationship between literacy skills and skills usage in the two surveys across countries would allow an examination of differences in the way workers with specific skills are matched to jobs with differing requirements across countries.
The analysis undertaken in this project will be similar to that undertaken for literacy skill usage in the 2008 stage one report, except that it will be extended to involve a comparative analysis of skills use in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
