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Garry Barrett

University of Sydney, Australia, and IZA@LISER, Luxembourg

The IZA World of Labor series provides ready access to the latest research on contemporary labor market developments. Especially valuable is the international perspective provided by the contributions from around the world

World of Labour role

Author

Current position

Professor of Economics, University of Sydney, Australia

Research interest

Labor economics, econometrics, welfare economics, public policy

Website

https://profiles.sydney.edu.au/garry.barrett

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Referee for the Australian Research Council; Chair of the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey Advisory Panel; Consultant to Commonwealth Department of Social Services (Australia), Human Resources Development Canada and New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

Qualifications

PhD Economics, University of British Colombia, Canada

Selected publications

  • "Labor supply elasticities: Overcoming nonclassical measurement error using more accurate hours data." Journal of Human Resources (2017) (with D. Hamermesh).

  • "The impact of pension eligibility age on retirement and program dependence: Evidence from an Australian experiment." Review of Economics and Statistics 191:2 (2015): 360–373 (with K. Atalay).

  • “Consistent nonparametric tests of Lorenz Dominance.” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 32:1 (2014): 1–13 (with S. G. Donald and D. Bhattacharya).

  • “The effect of retirement on elderly cognitive functioning.” Journal of Health Economics 66 (2019): 37-53 (with K. Atalay and A. Staneva).

  • "Consistent tests for stochastic dominance." Econometrica 71:1 (2003): 71–104 (with S. G. Donald).

Article(s)

  • The labour market in Australia, 2000-2024 Updated

    Sustained economic growth led to reduced unemployment and real earnings growth, but prosperity has not been equally shared

    Kadir AtalayGarry Barrett, August 2026
    Since 1991 the Australian economy has experienced sustained growth. Aided by the commodities boom and strong public finances, the Australian economy negotiated the global financial crisis without falling into recession. However, the dislocation associated with the Covid-19 pandemic saw the economy enter recession in 2020, before sharply rebounding. Since 2022, unemployment and real weekly earnings have returned to pre-Covid-19 levels but more recently real wages have slipped due to high inflation. Further recent headwinds include a rise in long-term unemployment, deteriorating youth labour market, and a stagnant gender earnings gap.
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