Australian Economy

Courtesy of Gerard Minack of Minack Associates: The outlook for Australia is not boom versus bust; it is bust versus blah – blah being a continuation of the anaemic, sub-trend growth seen through the past 5 years.

Over many years, MB has consistently argued that mass immigration is helping to hold down Australian wages.

Via George Theranou at UBS: UBS Labour Demand Index at ~6-yr low, indicating jobs ~halving to ~1¼% y/y July ANZ job ads bounced 0.8% m/m, but are still down 9.1% y/y; and the PMI alleconomy employment component slumped to 44.4.

Just in from the RBA: At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.00 per cent.

It’s going to funny watching this unfold.

Via ANZ: ANZ Australian Job Ads rose for the second month in a row in July, posting growth of 0.8% m/m after the jump of 4.9% in June.

Allens partner David Donnelly has warned that tunnels are the most vulnerable to cost increases and delays and pose the biggest risk to Australia’s $288 billion infrastructure boom: Tunnels are considered the most risky projects, followed by rail then roads.

The Australian has published a one-eyed propaganda piece entitled Job snobs ‘are leaving bosses in the lurch’, which claims that ‘lazy’ Australians are “actively snubbing work opportunities”.

The AFR has shown its poorly concealed hand.

Today, Acting Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) – James Laurenceson – warned that Australia’s economic reliance on China is increasing from already extreme levels: The May export figures paint a stark picture of just how reliant Australia’s economy is on the Chinese boom.

As we already know, Sydney is Australia’s primary entrant point for migrants: And Western Sydney is the prime dumping ground for these migrants: With Western Sydney also projected to receive the lion’s share future immigration-driven population growth – i.e.

It appears god has abandoned ScoMo.

The thing about terms of trade booms in bulk commodities is that they are highly volatile.

Friday’s retail sales figures released by the ABS will contribute little to June quarter GDP when the national accounts are released early next month.

So says ScoMo: Scott Morrison has emphatically ruled out lifting the $40-a-day rate of Newstart, warning campaigners including Barnaby Joyce they are out of touch with what voters want.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released retail sales figures for the month of June, which recorded a 0.4% rise in retail sales over the month in seasonally-adjusted terms, with annual sales growth rising to 2.5%: However, in trend terms, annual retail sales growth fell to 2.7%.

Earlier this week I posted a detailed expose on the systemic exploitation of migrant farm workers, which has been exposed repeatedly by a raft of major studies.