You may be structurally unemployed. There are different types
of structural unemployment. You may live in a rural area, where employment
opportunities are limited, yet there may be a job in another area. You
may, however, be unwilling to move. Some industries are slowly declining
in Australia, as a result of changes in the economy. The Federal government
is reducing tariffs on many imported goods, as part of our commitment to
the APEC. As a result, Australia is importing more textiles, clothing
and footwear from low labour cost countries in our region. ''TCF''
production is labour intensive and profit margins are low. Many jobs in
the ''TCF'' area are ''semiskilled'' and attract low rates of pay. Some
industries have been able to compete with imports by changing production
to more capital intensive methods, but the production of basic clothing
(''T'' shirts, singlets and underwear) is labour intensive and likely to
remain so.
General or cyclical unemployment occurs when the level of aggregate demand
is not high enough to ensure production occurs at a level that ensures
full employment. ''General'' unemployment occurs across all industries,
as a result.
