The course is designed to provide knowledge of one of the key environmental inputs of the industrial relations system — that being the labour market. Emphasis is placed on how the labour market functions (and malfunctions), its results, and how it affects, and is affected by, the industrial relations system within which it operates. The basic tools of labour economics will be provided, but the emphasis is on applying them to various policy issues such as: the incentive effects of income maintenance programs; retirement decisions and the impact of pensions; the effect of market structures (e.g., monopoly, public-sector employment) on wage and employment; the role of wage structures; the impact of institutional constraints such as gender discrimination, unemployment insurance, wage subsidies and negative income tax plans; special topics such as pay and employment equity, volunteer activity, labour shortages, health and safety, workers’ compensation, immigration and the brain drain.
