Redundancy from the white goods industry in Sydney, 1983: a case study

The purpose of this study is to describe the responses of the workers to their redundancy and, in particular, to focus on how those workers who did not initially retire permanently fared in the labour market over time. The underlying theoretical questions are if, how and why do redundant workers differ from the unemployed in general. The questionnaire for Phase I of the survey contained only seven questions to find out the current labour market status of the retrenched workers, 10 months after the closure of the plant. The questionnaire for Phase II of the survey, conducted some 9 to 12 months later, sought information on their current labour force status, employment history, job search behaviour, how the current job compared with their old job, reasons for not wanting a job, and whether retrenchment had been a good or a bad thing for them and why. In addition, background information was obtained at the start of the project, mainly from unions and supplemented by company sources where necessary, on retrenchment dates, age, sex, marital status, country of birth, years resident in Australia, length of service with employer, occupation, qualifications and union membership.