Australia: Labor/capital relations and sustainable development in the new south wales' northern tablelands

Abstract

In rural development circles, one of the most fundamental concerns is the retention and/or growth of local populations so as to better ensure the long-term social and economic viability of towns and their hinterlands. Often central to this objective is the capacity of the region and its constituent towns and hinterlands to provide sufficient employment opportunities for its own denizens and for those it seeks to recruit. In regions such as our case study area of the New South Wales (NSW) Northern Tablelands, Australia, this task has been rendered problematic by, inter alia, the seemingly inexorable competitive drive within the dominant industry sectors for ever more technologically sophisticated and capital intensive means of production, and the labor 'saving' consequences of this pressure. Yet, as numerous regions around Australia have realized, solving this dilemma is vital for their long-term futures for at least two key reasons. First, of course, rural towns and regions desire the economic and sociocultural multiplier effects associated with population growth, especially that driven by labor in-migration. The recruitment of the 'economically active' population serves, at least in part, to replace the young adult cohorts that have been leaving all categories of rural regions in large numbers for the cities (Argent and Walmsley, 2008). New labor in-migrants also provide an important boost to local economies through their consumption behaviors along with their contribution to sheer factor expansion. Second, and notwithstanding the observations above regarding the onward drive for labor-and cost-saving technological applications, human labor (and ingenuity) is still fundamental to the success, or otherwise, of the major industries of the Northern Statistical Division (Northern SD) and, therefore, to the broader economic, social, and demographic prospects of the region.