Short Answer Questions: Set 1 (Due Week 7)
ECON 2107 – Term 3 2023
Details
• Value: 15% of final mark
• Submission date: Wednesday 25 October, by 4pm
Submission Procedure
You should submit your short answer question responses electronically via the course Moodle site (under the
“Assessments - SAQ 1” tab) before the submission time on the due date. Use your surname and student ID in the file
name. Write up your responses to the questions in a Word (or other word processing) document, into which you
have pasted the relevant graphs from Excel. Excel workbooks will not be accepted.
Further Instructions
Length of submission: Not more than 4 pages, including all tables, plots, and written answers. Do not exceed the
200-word limit per answer, as indicated. If a word-count limit is not indicated, this means that no verbal explanation
is expected: data displays will provide a sufficient answer.
Write up: Clearly label which question you are answering by using the question numbers. Do not copy the questions
themselves in your submission. (This creates needless clutter, uses up space in your submission, and will cause
Turnitin to subject your paper to added scrutiny for plagiarism.)
Displays: It should be clear what a table or figure is showing (i.e., title, axes, lines, columns, etc., should be well-
labelled) without the reader needing to refer to the text.
Research: You should be able to answer these questions using the lecture and textbook material, coupled with data
downloadable from the ABS website. You may also conduct independent research to inform your answers, using
articles from the news media, although this is optional rather than a requirement. If you do draw on media reports,
be cite to cite them appropriately and consistently.
Plagiarism: All answers will be checked for plagiarism using the Turnitin system into which they are uploaded.
Plagiarism is a serious matter. Suspected cases of academic misconduct will be dealt with accordingly.
This assignment uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Labour Force release, Australia,
for August 2023. Download the required data at the two locations given below:
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-
detailed/aug-2023/6291009.xlsx
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-
detailed/aug-2023/6291019.xlsx
QUESTIONS
(1) Using the ABS data,
a. (1 mark) Plot the average per-person hours worked for employed men and women separately, at the
monthly level, for 1991-2023. (Use the data in the “Hours actually worked in all jobs per employed person”
columns, for men and women separately.) Include data for each gender on the same graph.
b. (1 mark) Plot the stock of total hours contributed to the labour market each month by men and women,
separately, for 1991-2023. Include data for each gender on the same graph.
c. (3 marks) Interpret the changes in these two measures for men and women over time, with a particular
focus on what you see around the time of the Great Financial Crisis and during the covid era that began in
March 2020. In your answer, explain what forces may be responsible for the observed trends in these data.
What changes in other measures of attachment to the labour force, not shown in these graphs, would be
implied by your explanations? (200 words maximum).
(2) Using the ABS data,
a. (2 marks) Plot the percent of employed workers who report being underemployed (the
“underemployment ratio”), on a quarterly basis since early 1991, for men and women separately (NOTE:
you will need to construct these series based on the data contained in Columns IL, IM, IO, and IP of the
6291019 spreadsheet). Include data for each gender on the same graph.
b. (2 marks) Select two occupations from the 6291019 spreadsheet that appear to you to show large
changes in the underemployment rate for men and/or women around the time of the emergence of covid,
whose effects will first be seen in these data in the May 2020 figures. Select a third occupation that
appears to show little change around this time. Plot the underemployment rates in these three
occupations from February 1991 to the latest available quarter, for men and women separately (one graph
per gender, with data for all three occupations shown on each graph).
c. (2 marks) Suggest at least two possible explanations for the covid-era changes in underemployment
shown in the occupations you have selected. Consider factors that stem from government policy, from
supply-side factors, and from demand-side factors, and thoroughly explain why your selected factors could
produce the changes seen. (200 words maximum).
(3) (4 marks) Discuss the types of changes in technological development, social norms around household
formation and production, exogenous shocks to supply and demand in output markets, and government
policy over the 1991-2019 time period in Australia that may help explain the patterns shown in the displays
you have created for Questions 1 and 2 (200 words maximum).
(4) (bonus question, 2 marks maximum) Suggest an empirical strategy for testing the strength of the effect
of each of the factors named in Question 3 on the hours of work contributed to the labour market over the
1991-2023 time period by men and women. (200 words maximum).