Australian Economy

This time it’s ACA and KMart’s cheap China crap: Aussie business icon Dick Smith has slammed Kmart‘s “sad” decision to manufacture many of its products overseas.

It’s bleedin’ obvious, at the ABC: Victoria has requested logistical support from the Australian Defence Force and help from other states as it tries to tackle an increasing number of coronavirus infections in the community.

Just in via Sky News: Qantas has requested a trading halt ahead of an announcement to axe 6,000 jobs – 20% of the workforce.

The Inquiry into Migration in Regional Australia has released its report which claims that Australia’s $53,900 Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) is too high for regional employers: 2.16 The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) was another matter that was raised regularly during the course of this inquiry.

By Stephen Saunders, cross-posted from Independent Australia AFTER COVID-19, the three main parties offer divergent economic and energy policies, but very similar population policies.

As reported on Sky News, bond holders of Virgin Australia have sent a last minute proposal to administrators to scuttle the sale of the airline, instead wanting to recapitalise the company on the share market.

As reported on Sky News, a Senate inquiry will today consider extending government support schemes such as JobKeeper beyond its late-September expiry.

Last week, the Melbourne Institute’s latest monthly survey of workers revealed that wages fell by 0.7% in the year to June.

Via the ABC: Around 700 jobs will be lost as Woolworths automates key logistics facilities in Sydney and Melbourne.

Via Government: Marginal improvement.

Last month, the Victorian government advised that the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel project would not be completed in 2022 as originally intended, instead pushing the project back to 2023 over a dispute around the disposal of contaminated soil.

Virgin Australia’s administrator Deloitte has revealed that final bids were submitted from Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners and has a week to decide which plan to adapt for its relaunch.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has announced it will build two new automated grocery distribution centres, resulting in a number of redundancies.

Via Domain: Figures released last week by Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute revealed there were 30,291 fewer international students in Melbourne in 2020 compared to last year, and 29,815 fewer students in Sydney.

Deloitte told its staff yesterday that it plans to cut its workforce by 7% because of the impact of COVID-19, despite its annual revenue growing by 10% to $2.5 billion.

Via CBA:   The CBA Flash PMIs indicate that business activity improved over June following the sharp contraction in activity overApril and May.

Via Bloomie: President Donald Trump plans to sign an order Monday temporarily halting access to several employment-based visas, affecting hundreds of thousands of people seeking to work in the U.S., a senior administration official said.

Callam Pickering, economist at global jobs site Indeed, has updated his job postings series, which has recorded further improvement.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver says that while consumer confidence and spending is recovering, the Australian economy faces a long road back to recovery: ABS labour force data showed a further sharp deterioration in the Australian labour market into mid-May with employment falling another 228,000 and unemployment rising to 7.1%.

Via the excellent Damien Boey at Credit Suisse: Extraordinary slack in the labour market.