Labour Market Preferences of Retrenched Australian Auto Industry Workers for Job Quality and Meaningful Work*

Abstract

This study uses stated preference experiments to examine labour market preferences of 309 workers retrenched by the Australian automotive industry for non-pecuniary job attributes denoting job quality and meaningfulness. We find that autonomy and employer reputation for good work policies and practices are the two most important non-pecuniary job attributes, with compensating wage differentials of roughly $5 per hour for greater autonomy and better employer reputation. Job security and skill utilisation are also important, but less so, with compensating wage differentials between $1 and $3 per hour for greater security and fewer training requirements. Workers' strongest preference is not for a particular type of work, but rather for a particular type of employer, suggesting that labour market policy might pay more attention to regulating the quality of workplaces.