The Labour Market in a Deregulated Economy

This paper attempts to extend the debate over labour market flexibility by incorporating some of the larger exogenous issues that are currently shaping New Zealand's future as a trading nation. It argues that structural shifts in the face of global price competition have important consequences for labour demand and in turn for both the institutional agencies of industial relations and for operational practices. The increasing importance of the formative role of mu;lti-national corporate practices are also discussed, particularly their tendency to treat labour supply requirements as a special case of factor markets in which the human factor is melded into an integrated socio-economic system. The paper concludes that current changes in labour law have still not addressed the question of the degree of flexibility that a deregulated labour market might require and that the potential for considerable conflict exists between employer and trade union perceptions as to the roles of current institutions.