Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The arrogance of our political elites never ceases to amaze.

Just sayin’, via the ABC: Launceston retailers are working out ways to bring more people into the city, after some stores experienced their worst trading month in years.

Yes, it’s border security Coalition style, via The Australian: Liberal Party heavyweight Scott Briggs — a close friend and ­political ally of Scott Morrison and a former professional colleague of new Immigration Minister David Coleman — is driving a bid to win a visa-­processing contract understood to be valued at up to $1 billion.

By Leith van Onselen According to Melbourne Institute professor Mark Wooden, workers have little to complain about: Wages have far outstripped increased living costs over the past decade, rising 31 per cent against a 22 per cent lift in inflation, delivering real gains in living standards.

By Leith van Onselen The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passed the House of Representatives last night, thanks to Labor’s treacherous support.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday released its overseas short-term arrivals and departures figures for July, which continued to show a trend rise in the number of inbound visitors, with both Chinese arrivals and student arrivals hitting an all-time high.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released visitor arrivals and departures data for the month of July, which again posted turbo-charged net annual permanent and long-term migration.

Via Domainfax comes your new Treasurer: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has dismissed claims of rising inequality and urged voters to back the government agenda for economic growth, while naming housing affordability and youth unemployment as two priorities in his new job.

By Leith van Onselen Throughout the immigration debate, MB has consistently argued that mass immigration is helping to hold down wages.

FTAlphaville makes the case: We’re reading Fear, Bob Woodward’s book on the Trump White House, and we’re having trouble figuring out who the good guys are.

Via The Australian: Surging commercial property values will not end in a bust but companies need to be ready as the cycle turns, according to Mirvac chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz.

By Leith van Onselen Billionaire founder of Westfield Shopping Centres and key member of Australia’s ‘growth lobby’, Frank Lowy, used last night’s Lowy Institute speech to attack Australian’s growing unease towards mass immigration and to push his support for a ‘Big Australia’.

By Leith van Onselen Under fire from the union movement for passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement because of its deleterious impact on Australian workers, Labor’s trade spokesman has turned spruiker, citing dodgy modelling espousing billions in economic benefits.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday’s ABS labour force release for August revealed a further softening Australian youth labour market – i.e.

Via Damien Boey at Credit Suisse: Another upside surprise in employment data Headlines from the August labour market report were very positive.

By Leith van Onselen As summarised earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released its labour force report for August, which registered a strong 44,000 increase in total employment but no change in the headline unemployment rate (still 5.3%) because of rising labour force participation.

The ABS has released its labour market survey for the month of August, with 44,000 jobs added, mostly full-time, but almost no change in hours worked nor the unemployment rate. Importantly, however, the quarterly underemployment and underutilisation rate improved: AUGUST KEY POINTS TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE) Employment increased 29,000 to 12,620,700.

By Leith van Onselen The Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union are angry that Labor has agreed to support legislation to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), claiming it represents a “disaster for Australian workers” and threatening to pull support from Labor at the next election.