Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The lack of planning and foresight to cope with the never-ending population (immigration) deluge into Australia’s big cities never ceases to amaze.

By Leith van Onselen The ABS has released engineering construction data for the December quarter of 2017, which revealed a 35.1% seasonally adjusted slump in the value of work done over the quarter but a 9.9% increase over the year, with an ongoing reduction in the construction pipeline.

By Leith van Onselen Never shy about playing the victim, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) has unveiled a new television and social media campaign to counter what it claims is a rising tide of anti-business sentiment, stoked by “well-resourced critics” – GetUp and the unions.

Australia is in trouble.

Queen Lucy Turnbull of Sydney recently launched the “three cities” vision for her kingdom which has gotten certain financial sector interests excited.

By Leith van Onselen Alan Austin has penned a stinging rebuke of Australia’s “booming” labour market in Independent Australia: When it comes to jobs in a global context, Australia’s missing out… Virtually all developed countries and the majority of developing countries are enjoying steady workforce expansion relative to population.

Australia’s trade minister, Steve Ciobo has recently signed us up to the TPP with a flourish of complete drivel: Mr Ciobo challenged Labor to support the deal, saying freer trade was responsible for a significant slice of the 403,000 jobs created in Australia last year.

Via the AFR: Fewer than one in five of Australia’s leading chief executives say they will use the Turnbull government’s proposed company tax cut to directly increase wages or employ more staff, according to a secret survey conducted by the Business Council of Australia.

By Leith van Onselen Australian employers in many industries claim they are struggling to find enough skilled trade workers to fill roles in areas including construction, hospitality, health and automotive, which is putting upward pressure on wages.

By Leith van Onselen Back in July, The Australia Institute (TAI) released a report, which found that electricity prices have increased at three times the rate of CPI, primarily due to companies ‘gold-plating’ financial assets and passing those costs onto consumers.

By Leith van Onselen With no compelling evidence to support our mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ program, the proponents have become increasingly shill.

Via UBS on the Banking Royal Commission: What could be the implications? Mortgage (and other consumer credit product) underwriting standards in Australia seem to have been lax for some period of time.

The Australia Budget is fixed!

Find above an interview I did this morning on Sydney Radio 2GB on Australia’s mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy, as well as company tax cuts.

By Leith van Onselen Of all the idiotic ‘awards’ handed out, The Economist’s ‘Most Liveable City’ must surely rank near the top, which has ranked Melbourne the most liveable city in the world for seven years in a row.

By Leith van Onselen New research from job search website Adzuna estimates that around one-third Australian jobs could be lost to automation by 2030, with lower-skilled and manual labour jobs most at risk.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday’s ABS labour force release for February painted a mixed picture for Australia’s youth labour market – i.e.

By Martin North, cross-posted from the Digital Finance Analytics Blog: The latest edition of the Digital Finance Analytics Household Finance Confidence Index shows a further drift lower, remaining below the 100 neutral benchmark.

By Leith van Onselen The ABS has released its Australian Demographic Statistics for the September quarter of 2017, which revealed that Australia’s population continues to grow rapidly led by another surge in net overseas migration (NOM), mostly into Sydney and Melbourne, which have both seen record immigration flows.