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This paper investigates the incidence and adjustment experiences of Australian workers who are displaced by economic change. Worker displacement can be the result of market based factors (e.g. changes in technology or consumer tastes) or policy changes (e.g. tariff reductions and deregulation). Evidence suggests that market based factors are responsible for most changes in the structure of Australian employment. However, when workers are displaced by policy reforms, they may experience some of the associated adjustment costs, such as periods of unemployment and a fewer working hours or lower wages once re-employed. These factors can influence the distribution of the costs and benefits and overall net benefits of policy reforms. The paper: clarifies what is meant by the term displaced worker; discusses the potential adjustment costs associated with displacement; quantifies the relative importance of job displacements in Australia; summarises past research on the incidence and adjustment experiences of displaced workers; provides a descriptive analysis of Australian data; uses econometric techniques to test the potential relationships between the incidence and adjustment experiences of retrenched workers and individual characteristics such as education and gender; and summarises the key findings of the study and discusses their implications for future policy reforms. Show less