Australian Economy

The ABC’s business reporter, Gareth Hutchens, has tried to explain the “economic logic” behind the sudden push to dramatically lift Australia’s immigration intake beyond pre-COVID levels.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index has dived 2.8% this week dropping to its lowest value since early October: The key movements are as follows: Consumer confidence declined by 2.8% last week, dropping to its lowest value since early October.

McKinsey Global Institute has released a new report, entitled “The Rise and Rise of the Global Balance Sheet”, which looks at real assets, financial assets and liabilities across 10 countries that represent 60% of global income (i.e. Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, the UK and the US).

The Seasonal Workers Program (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) are widely regarded as being the best regulated farm visa programs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison ran the media gamut over the weekend spruiking that ‘skilled’ migration would return to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2022, and that Australia’s international border would remain open no matter what.

On Friday, Australia hit the important milestone of having 90% of the adult population (aged 16 years or over) partially vaccinated, with 83.0% fully vaccinated: This has taken Australia to 16th among OECD nations for vaccinations, with Australia on track to become one of the highest vaccinated countries in the world.

Callam Pickering, economist at global jobs site Indeed, has updated his job postings data, which continues to grow from strength to strength: Job postings are now 82% above their level on February 1 last year.

Yesterday’s employment report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Australian youth unemployment surged after NSW, Victoria and the ACT exited lockdowns.

The latest Cordell Construction Cost Index data shows that the cost of building and renovating a home rose by 3.8% nationwide in the September quarter, and by 7.1% over the year to September.

Just in from the ABS: Key statistics Seasonally adjusted estimates for October 2021: Unemployment rate increased to 5.2%.

By Gareth Aird, head of Australian economics at CBA: Key Points: The RBA stated in the November 2021 Statement on Monetary Policy that their updated central scenario for the Australian economy is consistent with the first increase in the cash rate being in 2024.

From SEEK OVERVIEW OF OCTOBER 2021: STATE OF THE NATION: Highest number of job ads posted in a month in SEEK’s 23+ year history. SEEK job ads jumped 10.2% month-on-month (m/m). SEEK job ads were up by 63.2% in October 2021 year-on-year (y/y) and were up 44.0% compared to October 2019.

Data released yesterday by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) shows that a total of 5,590 new homes were sold nationwide in October, up 11% from September.

Westpac with the note: While the movement in the Index is hardly noteworthy there are a number of intriguing aspects of the survey that provide us with useful evidence of how the economy is evolving as we emerge out of COVID.