Don’t blame the ABS for dodgy jobs numbers

Thursday 11 September 2014

The media is full of condemnation of yesterday’s nonsensical employment numbers released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which registered the biggest ever month gain in jobs (+121,000) but contradictorily no change in the total number of hours worked.

While the result was embarrassing for the ABS, and could potentially weaken their reputation as a world-class statistical organisation, I believe it is wrong to place the blame on the ABS, which has suffered through ongoing budget cuts, which have weakened its capability.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.