Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen With MB being largely on hiatus over the past few weeks, below is a summary of the key economic data that has been released over this period broken down by topic.

By Leith van Onselen The September quarter national accounts was a sobering experience for Australian workers.

The November trade figures are out and its an absolute stinker with a big blowout, wiping out the plus half billion surplus expected by market economists with big revisions to the October print.

This is a known known for those who follow the reality behind the facade that is the security policy – Australia’s defence forces really can’t defend Australia.

Cross posted from The Conversation by David Blowers Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Politicians are told never to waste a good crisis.

Hold on to that champagne, the New Year is rolling in a near 1% decline in house prices in Sydney!

By Leith van Onselen For more than a decade, the Productivity Commission (PC) has debunked the common myth that immigration can overcome population ageing. For example: PC (2005): “Despite popular thinking to the contrary, immigration policy is also not a feasible countermeasure [to an ageing population].

By Leith van Onselen After Melbourne’s population surged by an insane 556,000 in the five years to 2016, and by 1.1 million people over the past 12 years: We learnt in October that the Victorian Government has been forced to remove seating from trains to accommodate surging passenger growth.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday released its quarterly labour force report, which breaks-down employment at the industry level to November 2017.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has unleashed on the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement (dubbed “TPP11”), which will reportedly allow employers unfettered access to ‘skilled’ migrant workers from member nations.

By Leith van Onselen MLC has released its latest Wealth Sentiment Survey, which paints a picture of a very cautious (nervous) consumer.

Please find above the latest in MB’s primer presentation series, which are aimed at getting newer readers up to speed, as well as providing an easy-to-digest reference point on various topics.

The latest RBA Minutes have been released: International Economic Conditions Members commenced their discussion of the global economy by noting that growth in global industrial production was likely to have increased further in October.

By Leith van Onselen Ever since the 7-Eleven migrant worker scandal broke in 2015, there has been a conga-line of stories about the systemic abuse of Australia’s various migrant worker programs and visa system.

Here’s an excellent dissection of the Australian economy by Westpac chief economist, Bill Evans: As we contemplate 2018 and 2019 there are a number of key themes that we believe will dominate economic and market developments.

Exclusively from Gerard Minack Australia seems set for another year of desultory growth, avoiding a statistical recession but experiencing per capita pain.

Ponzi Peter Martin is back with more: The Bureau of Statistics has produced some shockers – wildly inaccurate employment statistics it has had to disown.