Small retailers and employment regulation : is deregulation really necessary?

This paper examines the responses of small retailing businesses to the deregulation of industrial relations and the question as to whether these businesses regard employment regulation/deregulation as necessary to the more efficient conduct of their businesses. Changes to the range of enterprise level industrial relations in Australia introduced by the Workplace Relations Act 1996 were widely promoted as facilitating flexible staffing arrangements. Staffing flexibility is particularly important for small retail businesses. New proposed legislation offers the prospect of further flexibility for small business. The small business sector is important in the Australian economy and currently provides 46 per cent of employment in the private sector. The retail trade is the largest segment of small business employment, accounting for approximately 19 per cent of employment in this sector. Hence the reactions of this group to the changed workplace frameworks are significant. The paper compares the results of surveys of small retail businesses located in Western Sydney conducted in 2004 and 2005 with an earlier survey undertaken by the authors in 2001. Contrary to some popular beliefs, small retail businesses are generally content with the traditional system of employment regulation. This finding is consistent with several surveys of small business generally.