Parliamentary Library Background Paper No. 16 THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS ACT AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT

Transcription

1 Parliamentary Library Background Paper No. 16 THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS ACT AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT Andrew Morrison Economist, Parliamentary Library November 1996 NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY 1

2 Members wishing an oral briefing or further information on this subject should contact Andrew Morrison on extension Parliamentary Library Wellington, New Zealand November 1996 The author would like to thank John Savage (from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research) for his comments during the preparation of this paper. 2

3 Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Summary of the Act Major studies Issues of interpretation Criteria for assessing the Act s impact The evidence... 7 a. Change in union coverage... 7 b. Change in the type of employment contracts... 7 c. Change in the content of employment contracts... 7 d. Productivity growth... 8 e. Employment growth... 9 f. Economic growth g. Wages growth and conditions of employment h. Increased inequality of wages and conditions Conclusion Bibliography

4 Executive Summary The Employment Contracts Act (ECA) represents a significant change from previous legislation governing labour relations. It has reduced the legislative backing for unions, and has served to strengthen the direct relationship between employees and their employers. It has removed the obstacles to different types of employment contract and working arrangements. However, the ECA is only one of many factors that has affected the economy over the past five years. Care is required when interpreting data. The ECA has substantially changed the way that employees and employers negotiate and contract with one another. Union membership has almost halved since the Act, and now only a small minority of the workforce is covered by multiemployer collective employment contracts. The content of employment contracts has also changed. There are more flexible work practices, greater multi-skilling and increased use of performance pay. Rates for overtime and penal rates have dropped. Employers who have made these changes are more likely to report actual improvements of labour productivity and operational flexibility. Aggregate economic data also tends to support the hypothesis that the ECA has improved productivity, although different measures tell different stories. Employers report increased employment as a result of the Act. This is especially so for part-time and casual employment, but also for full-time employment. Econometric analysis shows the ECA seems to account for at least one-sixth of the total growth of employment between 1991 and No estimates have been made of the ECA s effect on economic growth, but this is likely to have been positive given improved productivity and positive employment growth. Econometric work shows the ECA as having had no significant effect on the aggregate level of wages. There may have been some deterioration in working conditions, however evidence is not clear-cut. If anything, the hourly rate of wages received by women has improved relative to that of men (although not necessarily as a result of the Act). Similarly for parttime workers and those with no qualifications. But the rates for Maori workers have deteriorated compared with those for Pakeha. However, inequality may be worse than the statistics show if the conditions of people working for smaller employers, who are not adequately covered by the data, have deteriorated. 4

5 1. Introduction The Employment Contracts Act 1991 (ECA) represents a significant change from previous legislation governing labour relations. The purpose of this paper is to assess its economic impact on New Zealand; other impacts are outside this paper s scope. 2. Summary of the Act The principal details of the Act are: employees can decide whether or not to join an employee organisation (Part I of the ECA) employees and employers can choose which agent they want to negotiate their employment contract for them (Part II) the type and content of an employment contract are a matter of negotiation (Part II & III) personal grievance provisions have been extended to include all employees (Part III) where an employment contract has been breached, only the direct parties to the contract can take action against each other (Part IV) in the main, strikes are lawful only when they involve the negotiation of new contracts subsequent to the old contracts expiring (Part V) all questions relating to employment contracts are dealt with by the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Court (Part VI). The immediate result of these provisions is to strengthen the direct contractual relationship between employees and their employers. The legislative backing for unions has been reduced. So have obstacles to the development of different types of employment contracts (such as individual employment contracts) and flexible working arrangements. 3. Major studies The main empirical work on the effects of the ECA includes: the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research s (NZIER) surveys of firms (March 1993 and December 1995) 1 Tim Maloney s econometric analysis of the ECA s impact on employment and wages (1994) 2 Victoria University s Industrial Relations Centre s annual survey of unions and union membership 3 1 Briggs (1993); and Savage (1995). These surveys were run in conjunction with the NZIER s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion. 2 Maloney (1994). 3 Crawford, Harbridge and Hince (1996); Harbridge, Hince and Honeybone (1995 and 1994). 5

6 Victoria University s Industrial Relations Centre s database of collective employment contracts 4 An MRL survey of public attitudes towards the ECA (1995) 5 Two Heylen Research Centre surveys of senior managers and employees (1992 and 1993) 6 4. Issues of interpretation In interpreting the evidence, readers need to be aware of the following problems 7 : changes taking place may have occurred even under the previous industrial relations system; it is difficult to know what would have happened in the absence of the ECA other factors, besides developments in the industrial relations area, may have caused the same economic outcomes; it is difficult to isolate the importance of any one factor evidence tends to show mainly net changes, but net changes can hide many and varying individual changes. 5. Criteria for assessing the Act s impact Much of the ECA s impact is indirect. Its principle effects depend on: the extent that employers and employees change the way they negotiate and contract with one another; and the extent that these contracting changes impact upon the economy. This paper considers criteria which measure both factors. Criteria which measure the first factor include: a. change in union coverage b. change in the type of employment contracts c. change in the content of employment contracts. Criteria relevant to the second factor, that is the ultimate effects on the economy, include: d. rate of productivity growth e. rate of employment growth f. rate of economic growth 4 Harbridge and Honeybone (1995 and 1994); and Harbridge and Moulder (1993). 5 Moore and Stockwell (1996) 6 Heylen Research Centre (1992 and 1993); analysed in Whatman, Armitage and Dunbar (1994). 7 Savage and Cooling (1996), p.1 6

7 g. rate of wages growth and changes to conditions of employment h. changes to inequality between sectors. Each factor is now examined in turn. 6. The evidence a. Change in union coverage Unionisation of the workforce has declined substantially. The Industrial Relations Centre surveys show that unionisation has almost halved, falling from 41.5% of the employed workforce in May 1991 to 21.7% in December Although unionisation was declining prior to 1991, these changes are well in excess of the pre- ECA trend. 9 b. Change in the type of employment contracts Individual employment contracts now appear to dominate, as the following table shows. This is the reverse of what happened in 1991, when multi-employer collective agreements were in the majority. 10 The following responses were given to the NZIER s 1995 survey question, what is the predominant type of award or contract in existence in your organisation : 11 % of firms award or multi-employer collective agreement 10% single enterprise collective employment contract (CEC) 29% individual employment contracts (IEC) 45% no type predominates: combination of CEC and IEC 16% c. Change in the content of employment contracts A marked change has occurred to the content of employment contracts. Many firms are reporting a drop in overtime and penal rates, increased performance-based remuneration, and increasingly flexible work practices. This evidence comes from the responses to the NZIER s 1995 survey question, as a result of the ECA, what changes have occurred to the content of employment contracts in your organisation since 1991?. Summarised response rates are 12 : 8 Crawford, Harbridge and Hince (1995), p2. 9 Maloney (1994), p.11, shows that almost all the decline post 1995 is associated with the Act. 10 Geare (1995), p.488; Harbridge and Honeybone (1994), p.2-3; and Whatman, Armitage and Dunbar (1994), p Savage and Cooling (1996), p Savage and Cooling (1996), p.9. The percentage figures refer to the number in each category as a percent of all valid responses to that question. The net change category is the difference between the percentage of reduced and the percentage of increased ; a negative value for net change implies that more respondents reported a reduction of the specified characteristic. 7

8 Percentage of firms Increased Reduced Net change overtime rates 7% 43% -36% other allowances / penal rates 6% 39% -33% non-pecuniary benefits / fringe benefits 9% 15% -6% use of performance based remuneration 44% 2% 43% ordinary-time wage rates 51% 3% 47% length of standard or clock time 18% 2% 16% flexible work practices 58% 2% 57% demarcations 3% 38% -35% multi-skilling 48% 1% 47% These results do not, however, give any indication of the degree of change. The conclusion of subsections (a) to (c) above is that available evidence shows the ECA as having resulted in considerable change in the way employees and employers negotiate and contract with one another. What, however, of its ultimate effects on the economy? d. Productivity growth Many firms have used the ECA to introduce changes usually regarded as productivity-enhancing. There is greater use of performance-based pay and of flexible work practices and multi-skilling. However, do such operational changes actually increase productivity? The ECA s ultimate effect on productivity can be measured at both a macro- and a micro-level. The first focuses on national or industry-wide productivity; the second examines what is happening at the firm-level. The most recent macro-level data shows total factor productivity to have increased. 13 Viv Hall estimates it to have grown at an annual compound rate of 2.3% over this most recent economic expansion ( ) compared with 1.3% over the last expansion ( ). 14 Similar results are given by the NZIER s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, which shows on average a net 30% of manufacturers and builders reporting productivity increases over the period March 1991 to March 1996 compared with 14% over what they estimate as the last major period of expansion (June 1978 to March 1986). 15 While not proving the hypothesis that the ECA has been productivity enhancing, this data at least supports it. 13 Labour productivity measures output per worker, capital productivity measures output per unit of capital, and total factor productivity measures output from the combination of labour and capital. Total factor productivity is the best indicator as it measures overall productivity. However, labour productivity is the easiest to measure and is therefore the most frequently used statistic. Post ECA growth of labour productivity has been fairly unexceptional; explanations for this include the new worker effect, labour hoarding, substitution between labour and capital, and measurement problems. 14 Hall (1996), p NZIER update, October 1996, p.3. 8

9 Evidence at the micro-level is also supportive. The NZIER s 1995 survey shows that productivity-enhancing changes are more likely to have been made by firms experiencing falling levels of unionisation. Furthermore, it is firms with reducing union influence which tended to report actual increases of labour productivity and operational flexibility. Similarly, improved labour productivity and operational flexibility were reported by firms with increased multiskilling, reduced demarcations, more flexible work practices and greater use of performance pay. Thus the perceptions of firms support the argument that the ECA has increased productivity. 16 These results support the results of an earlier sample which showed 39% of enterprises in the public sector and 47% of enterprises in the private sector believing the ECA to have made some contribution to productivity changes. These were mainly the larger enterprises. 17 Public perception also supports the hypothesis that the ECA has enhanced productivity. There was more than a 2:1 ratio between those agreeing and those disagreeing to most of the following statements from the MRL s 1995 survey. % of Public Agree Disagree The ECA has improved workplace productivity 46% 20% The ECA means NZ business can be more responsive to the needs of the international marketplace 54% 11% The ECA provides the chance for good performance in the workplace to be rewarded 47% 25% The ECA has led to greater flexibility in working terms and conditions 52% 22% e. Employment growth The 1990s have seen employment grow at rates not experienced since the early 1970s. A main cause is likely to have been the strong export-led economic growth beginning in the early 1990s, especially as this occurred at a time of high levels of unemployment and spare capacity. To what extent, then, did the ECA contribute to the growth of employment? One way the ECA may have affected employment is by changing employers willingness to employ new staff. Employers are likely to have hired more staff if the ECA (1) improved the productivity of individual workers or (2) reduced wage pressures. Also, if the ECA had independently increased GDP, whether as a result of current workers being more productive or because of greater business confidence, employment would have risen as a consequence Savage and Cooling (1996) 17 Heylen (1993), p Beaumont and Jolly (1993), p.29-35; Maloney (1994), p

10 At least two of these factors are likely to have happened. The previous section shows the ECA s effect on productivity within the firm to be positive. It also probably had a positive impact on GDP, although this is difficult to show. While the impact on the aggregate level of wages has been neutral (see page 11), changes to their composition (with penal rates being reduced and a greater use of productivity-linked pay) should have been beneficial. The net impact of the ECA on employment is therefore likely to have been positive. Two types of empirical evidence support this conclusion. First, econometric analysis undertaken by Maloney shows the ECA to have been responsible for at least one-sixth of the increase of employment from mid 1991 to mid At least, because the analysis took no account of the effect of its impact on GDP. 19 This finding parallels the perception of firms and the general population. The NZIER s 1995 survey shows that a significant number of firms - although not all - think that the ECA has been responsible for increased employment in their organisation. This is especially the case for part-time and casual employment. The responses were as follows: 20 Percentage of firms Increased Reduced Net change total hours worked each week 27.6% 5.2% 22.4% full-time employment 21.9% 13.0% 8.9% part-time employment 33.5% 3.4% 30.1% casual employment 33.5% 6.7% 26.8% As regards the general public, 37% of respondents to MRL s 1995 survey believed the ECA to have had a positive impact on employment, compared with 17% who thought it has had a negative impact. 21 f. Economic growth Once again, disentangling the ECA s influence from the effect of other factors is difficult in empirical terms. Furthermore, prominent swings of the economic cycle over the last decade make it even more difficult to separate cyclical changes from more long-term changes to New Zealand s rate of economic growth. In theory, the ECA is likely to have had a positive impact on economic growth. This is as a direct result of (1) any increase of productivity that may have occurred at the firm level and (2) any increase of the inputs used in production, specifically labour. 19 Maloney (1994), p.12-17, 20-21; Savage (1996), p.8 mentions Maloney s more recent results. 20 Savage and Cooling (1996), p.14. The question was How has the ECA affected the following in your organisation since 1991? (Compared to outcomes in the absence of the ECA) 21 Moore and Stockwell (1995), p.12 10

11 The general public perception is that the ECA has had a positive impact on the New Zealand economy. Of those responding to MRL s 1995 survey, 54% believed the impact was positive compared with 10% who thought it negative. 22 This parallels the views of firms, 76% who believed the ECA to have had a positive net impact on their overall performance. 23 g. Wages growth and conditions of employment There are several ways through which the ECA affects wages. These work in opposite directions, so the net effect is uncertain in theory. 24 A downwards influence is exerted by the fact that the ECA has increased the bargaining power of employers. Two reasons given for the strengthening of the employers position are: first, strikes and lockouts are now less costly for employers (for example, because it is now easier for them to hire temporary workers for the period of the strike or lockout); and second, employers can now negotiate with individual employees, thus further weakening the bargaining position of unions. Moreover, the decentralisation of bargaining that has taken place since the ECA became law gives employers and employees added incentives to restrain wages if their firms are to remain competitive with other enterprises and their profits and jobs remain safe. A counter-balancing upwards influence on wages may occur if the ECA increases the productivity of individual workers. This would increase the attractiveness of workers to employers, and would increase employers willingness and ability to pay higher wages. What does the empirical evidence show? While wage growth has been muted since the ECA, evidence shows that this was probably due to other factors. Economic recession and high levels of unemployment acted to restrain wage growth in the early 1990s, and the competitive pressures of a deregulated economy are a continuing restraint. Maloney s 1994 econometric analysis showed the ECA to have had a small negative impact on wages. He estimated the ECA to have reduced nominal wages by 0.5% between the June 1991 quarter and the December 1993 quarter. However, his more recent work shows no statistically significant impact at all. 25 The results of the NZIER s 1995 survey show that, if anything, firms believe the ECA to have increased the ordinary-time wage rates of their workers. Of those responding to the survey, 51% said the ECA had increased ordinary-time wages and only 3% replied that it had decreased them. While the reduction of overtime and penalty rates may be a balancing factor, the use of performance-based pay has increased. The survey does not indicate the net effect of these factors. 22 Moore and Stockwell (1995), p Savage and Cooling (1996), p Points made in the next two paragraphs are taken from Beaumont and Jolly (1993), p Maloney (1994), p Savage (1996), p.9, mentions Maloney s more recent results. 11

12 What about conditions of employment? Part-time and casual work have increased, and such work is often perceived as involving poorer conditions and security than permanent full-time work. The view of a large number of respondents to the NZIER s 1995 survey is that part-time and casual work has grown as a result of the ECA. However, it is interesting to contrast this belief with actual trends. Since 1991 part-time work has been a fairly stable percentage of total employment, despite a constant and significant rise over the two decades before that date. 26 Furthermore, most countries have had part-time employment trending upwards over the last decade (a notable exception being the United States). Other conditions of employment have also been affected. For example, in the 1993 Heylen survey, 15% of employees reported that their ability to accumulate annual leave was down on the previous year, 12% said that the value of redundancies had declined and 9% reported cuts to fringe benefits and allowances. Furthermore, a net 13% of respondents reported worsened job security and a net 16% said they were less trustful of management. On the other hand, a net 21% believed there were more opportunities for learning new skills and a net 15% thought communication between staff and management had increased. An increase of training provisions was reported by enterprises representing 52% of employees in the private sector and 39% of employees in the public sector. 27 h. Increased inequality of wages and conditions It would be surprising if the ECA had not caused a greater spread of wages and conditions between industries, occupations, firm types and so on. After all, the purpose of the ECA was to increase flexibility and allow better recognition of individual circumstances. For inequality to increase, those already worse off (or better off) would have to became more so. Note, as before, that other factors besides the ECA may have also had an influence. The extent of de-unionisation has varied considerably across industries. This can be seen in the following table. 28 However, no ethnic group or gender is clearly represented in industries with greater de-unionisation. 29 Furthermore, the data in the table shows no clear relationship between the amount of de-unionisation occurring in an industry and the growth of wages Figures on part-time employment as a percentage of total employment were (June quarters) 11.4% in 1971, 14.5% in 1981, 21.5% in 1991 and 22.3% in Source: Statistics New Zealand and NZ Institute of Economic Research. 27 Heylen (1994), p.34, 38 and Data is from Crawford, Harbridge and Hince (1996), p.3 and Statistics New Zealand (INFOS database). Union density refers to the proportion of employees who belong to unions. Note, however, that the numerator (i.e., union membership) is defined in terms of full-time-equivalents whereas the denominator (i.e., the number employed) is not. 29 The table s gender and ethnicity data is from Census The table s wages data comes from Statistics New Zealand s Labour Cost Index (LCI) series. The LCI series has the advantage of comparing like job with like, but only started in the December 1992 quarter. However, the distribution of results is fairly similar to that of the Department s Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), which covers a longer time period but is affected by the changing distribution of employment within an industry. Note, however, that the QES series shows the growth of hourly rates in manufacturing to be close to average, not above average as the LCI shows. 12

13 Union Union Absolute %Females % Maori & Wage&sal. Density Density change of in industry Pacific Is. increase (Dec91) (Dec95) union in industry (Dec'92- density Jun'96) mining and related services 100% 28% -72% 10% 15% 5.5% manufacturing 46% 25% -21% 30% 18% 6.0% retail; wholesale; cafes; accommodation 21% 5% -16% 49% 8% 4.9% construction; building services 19% 5% -14% 10% 11% 5.6% public and community services 50% 38% -12% 61% 11% 4.0% agriculture; fishing; hunting 10% 3% -7% 31% 8% 4.0% finance and business services 21% 14% -7% 51% 6% 6.1% transport; communication 54% 52% -2% 31% 14% 3.3% energy; utility services 84% 88% 4% 15% 14% 5.7% TOTAL 35% 22% -13% 43% 11% 4.9% Unfortunately, one problem with such data is its high level of aggregation. The averages for each industry could hide significant variation within industries. For example, more detailed work by McAndrew and Ballard shows that contracts negotiated with unions are likely to have involved fewer concessions from employees than those contracts where unions were not involved. 31 The three sources of aggregate data on women s wages give what at first seem conflicting results. Data from the Statistics New Zealand s Quarterly Employment Survey shows no difference between the growth of male and female average hourly earnings. 32 Data from their Household Economic Survey shows female hourly earnings improving relative to that of males. 33 And data from collective employment contracts shows women s wage increases being less than men s in the year ending June 1993, but similar since then. 34 However, the Statistics New Zealand s data shows women s weekly earnings deteriorating relative to men s. This is because the number of hours worked by men has increased relative to women s, not because of wage rates. The Household Economic Survey data also shows the wages of those with no qualifications and of part-time workers to have improved relative to the qualified and the full-time workers. Hourly wages of people in the year age group have not declined much more than for those aged years, but both have fallen considerably more than for the 55+ year group. Wages received by Maori have fallen relative to Pakeha. 35 Overall, the data shows a different story depending on the 31 McAndrew and Ballard (1995), p131. Of the ten employee concessions identified by the authors, those employers seeking them were successful in obtaining them 77% of the time in the case of unioninvolved negotiations, 10% less than in other negotiations. 32 Average hourly (ordinary-time and over-time) earning grew 9.9% for women over the five year period from the May 1991 quarter, and 9.8% for men. Remember, though, QES data is not quality adjusted; it is affected by changes to the distribution of people within each category. 33 Dixon (1996), p.67. Median hourly earnings for males reduced 7.5% from the 1990 to 1994 (March years), while female earnings fell only 3.6%. 34 Harbridge and Honeybone (1995), p.10. The authors estimated male and female earnings by weighting each contract by the number of men and women in it. They estimated male earnings to have increased 1.5%, 1.0% and 1.6% respectively in the 1993, 1994 and 1995 years ending June. Increases for females were respectively 0.9%, 1.0% and 1.5%. 35 Dixon (1996), p.67. Median hourly earnings reduced 1.4% between 1990 and 1994 for those with no qualification and 17.0% for those with university qualifications; they fell 4.5% for full-timers and 01% for part-timers; and they fell 9.6% for Maori and 4.0% for Pakeha. 13

14 statistic used. For hourly earnings, the gap between the tenth and ninetieth percentile fell between 1990 and 1994, indicating a fall in inequality, whereas two other measures indicate a slight increase of inequality. 36 Besides the problem of aggregation, another difficulty is that the data is not always comprehensive. For example, many surveys do not include very small employers, and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions contends that the real abuses tend to be associated with smaller employers 37. Furthermore, it is women who tend to dominate the peripheral labour-force, which has little bargaining power. 38 A minority of the Labour Select Committee, reporting on the effects of the ECA on the labour market, put together anecdotal evidence of abuses and setbacks for workers following the implementation of the ECA. 39 Public perception is mixed. In MRL s 1995 survey, the percentages of those agreeing and those disagreeing to the following statements were as follows: 40 % of Public Agree Disagree The ECA is unfair to youth workers 41% 23% The ECA is unfair to part-time workers 29% 27% The ECA is unfair to women 20% 41% 7. Conclusion Without a doubt, the ECA has considerably changed New Zealand s labour relations landscape: unionisation has almost halved; multi-employer collective employment contracts now cover only a small minority of workers; and substantial changes have been made to the actual content of many employment contracts. What evidence there is shows the ECA to have had a positive effect on economic growth. This is through its impact on productivity and employment growth. However, the exact effect is difficult to measure. On aggregate, the ECA has had little effect on wages. However, conditions of employment appear to have worsened, but it is difficult to quantify the extent of this. The ECA appears to have had a mixed impact on inequality. The hourly wage and salaries of women have actually improved relative to men s since the Act, and those of the unskilled and the part-timers have also improved. Conversely, the hourly earnings of Maori have worsened relative to Pakeha. However, recorded data may not be showing the whole picture as it under-represents those working for very small employers. 36 Dixon (1996), p CTU (1993(a)), p Rose Ryan, paraphrased in CTU (1993(b)), p Minority of the Labour Select Committee (1993). 40 Moore and Stockwell (1995), p.14 14

15 8. Bibliography Armitage, C. and Dunbar, R. Labour market adjustment under the Employment Contracts Act. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1993, 18(1), p Beaumont, C. and Jolly, P. Wage bargaining and the Employment Contracts Act. Wellington : Reserve Bank of New Zealand, July Briggs, P. Analysis of the QSBO ECA survey results. Wellington : NZ Institute of Economic Research, June 1993 Crawford, A., Harbridge, R. and Hince, K. Unions and union membership in New Zealand: annual review for Wellington : Victoria University of Wellington (Industrial Relations Centre), Deeks, J., Parker, J. and Ryan, R. Labour and employment relations in New Zealand. Auckland : Longman Paul, Dixon, S. The distribution of earnings in New Zealand Labour market bulletin, 1996(1), p Geare, A. Industrial relations: a general introduction and the New Zealand system. Dunedin : Foundation for Industrial Relations Research and Education (NZ), Hall, V. New Zealand s economic growth: fantastic, feeble, or further progress needed?. Victoria economic commentaries. March 1996, p Hammond, S. and Harbridge, R. The impact of the Employment Contacts Act on women at work. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1993, 18(1), p Harbridge, R., Hince, K., and Honeybone, A. Unions and union membership in New Zealand: annual review for New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 19(2), p (1994) Harbridge, R., Hince, K., and Honeybone, A. Unions and union membership in New Zealand: annual review for New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 20(2) p (1995) Harbridge, R. and Honeybone, A. The Employment Contracts Act and collective bargaining patterns: a review of the 1993/94 year, in Harbridge, R., Honeybone, A. and Kiely, P. Employment contracts: bargaining trends and employment law update: 1993/94. Wellington : Victoria University of Wellington (Industrial Relations Centre), September Harbridge, R. and Honeybone, A. The Employment Contracts Act and collective bargaining patterns: a review of the 1994/95 year, in Harbridge, R. and Kiely, P. Employment contracts: bargaining trends and employment law update: 1994/95. Wellington : Victoria University of Wellington (Industrial Relations Centre), August Harbridge, R. and Moulder, J. Collective bargaining and the Employment Contracts Act: one year on. The Journal of Industrial Relations, 1993, 35(1), p Heylen Research Centre. A survey of labour market adjustment under the Employment Contracts Act Wellington : Department of Labour, October Heylen Research Centre. A survey of labour market adjustment under the Employment Contracts Act 1991 (November 1993). Wellington : Department of Labour, November Hince, K. and Harbridge, R. The Employment Contracts Act: an interim assessment. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 19(3): p Kasper, W. Free to work: the liberalisation of New Zealand s labour markets. 15

16 St Leanards (Australia) : Centre for Independent Studies, McAndrew, I and Ballard, M. Negotiation and dictation in employment contract formation in New Zealand.. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1995, 20(1): p Maloney, T. Has New Zealand s Employment Contracts Act increased employment and reduced wages? Auckland : University of Auckland, July Minority of the Labour Select Committee. Report of the minority of the Labour Select Committee on the inquiry into the effects of the Employment Contracts Act on the New Zealand labour market. 21 September Moore, S. and Stockwell, W. Impact of the Employment Contracts Act. Wellington : MRL Research Group, December New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. The Employment Contract Act: a summary of its effects. Wellington : NZCTU, May 1993(a). New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. NZCTU National Biennial Women s Conference report. Wellington : NZCTU, May 1993(b). Savage, J. What do we know about the economic impacts of the ECA? (Paper presented to a conference on the Employment Contracts Act, Auckland, May ) Wellington : NZ Institute of Economic Research, May Savage, J. and Cooling, D. A preliminary report of the results of a survey on the Employment Contracts Act. Wellington : NZ Institute of Economic Research, March Whatman, R., Armitage, C. and Dunbar, R. Labour market adjustment under the Employment Contracts Act. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 19(1): p Wilson, M. Contractualism and the Employment Contracts Act 1991: can they deliver equality for women? New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 1994, 19(3), p