Evaluation of the Australian Wage Subsidy Special Youth ...

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training, can provide a form of on the job training simply through work experience (for
example 2.2.1 notes that a condition of SYETP was a training plan). This is advantageous
for the functioning of a wage subsidy since the unemployed who benefit from the subsidy
can develop greater human capital and subsequent improvement in their labour market
position (in turn allowing the wage subsidy to influence employment gains). As SYETP
existed in this period, it is difficult to determine whether this aspect arose due to SYETP,
or pre-existed it and provided SYETP with helpful conditions in which to act as conduit
for the activation of human capital.
2.2.5.3 Discussion
The analysis that our study produces operated with these background features to the
youth labour market. Over the period this study covers, 1984-1986, the Australian youth
labour market had several interesting aspects. It faced institutionalised lower relative
wages than adults. Although school participation rose, overall youth unemployment was
high relative to adults, but generally youth unemployment was falling and employment
was rising. Regional and rural/urban differences existed in the incidence of
unemployment. Educational attainment was related to patterns of unemployment.
Amongst youths, teens had shorter average spells of unemployment because they were
mostly school leavers.
CES efficacy had a strong influence on the path out of unemployment for registrants, and
getting referrals was an integral factor. The CES faced a limited supply of registered
vacancies, which seemed to favour lower skilled occupations. In reviewing the evidence
from programme evaluation for OECD countries, Fay (1996) noted that the process itself,
relating here to the CES administration, might be an important determinant of the
outcome from a programme (Fay (1996): 11). However it was also found in the review
that the role of delivery was not usually included in impact studies of employment, and
that while potentially important they might be difficult or impossible to include in
evaluations of net employment impact.