The latest unemployment data are a decidedly mixed bag. The real concern is the participation rate.
ABS
Another day, another set of disastrous building figures
Housing commencements are now in freefall, with long-term consequences for our housing supply.
Unemployment up slightly — all eyes on Victoria
Unemployment increased slightly in November, but the main impact was in Victoria and Queensland.
GDP: accept it — the economy is booming
Today’s GDP numbers confirm that the AUstralian economy is in robust health. Without Europe, there’d have been no interest rate cuts, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.
Retail and building data stick to the two-speed trend
A slew of economic data confirms existing trends in the economy — and it’s not all bad outside the mining sector.
Wage pressures subsiding at an intriguing stage of the economic debate
Wage pressures appear to have abated, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there’ll be more cuts to interest rates.
Consumers open wallets wider, so why do we need to cut rates?
Can anyone explain why the Reserve Bank needs to cut interest rates, as quite a few economists, media writers and industry leaders say it will, either next month, or December?
New ABS measure shows lower inflation
A revised method of calculating changes to inflation made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the inflationary measures that most influence the Reserve Bank are lower than previously calculated, writes Richard Farmer.
Crikey Says: Crikey says: two very different angles
Two newspapers interpret the same economic news, the ABS household expenditure survey …
No, the sky’s not falling — the economy is in rude health
The Australian economy isn’t dying, it isn’t in need of a rate cut to halt a slide towards a recession, it isn’t suffering from a lack of spending or demand: in fact it’s in rude health.
Gloom? Consumers are saving, but they are spending too
Some of the country’s leading economists and business analysts can’t see a boom for the gloom that they are preaching and writing about.
Three population bubbles will cause demand, not supply, to skyrocket
There is a serious myth doing the rounds that the retirement of Australia’s baby boomers will trigger a massive new wave of housing supply that will swamp incoming demand and depress prices, writes Christopher Joye, of Property Observer
Political snippets: ABS reveals where the money is
The Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning released a study showing where Australia’s highest paid wage and salary earners live.
Nearly standing still on unemployment
A year ago the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in July 2010 there were just under 587,000 unemployed. Yesterday came the news that in July 2011 there were 576,000 officially looking for jobs. The economic recovery has stalled, writes Richard Farmer.
As RBA mulls interest rates, housing decline is accelerating
Another rate rise might accelerate a decline in construction activity that shows no sign of slowing down.
Employment grows, and not just in the mining states
The “patchwork economy” isn’t much in evidence in today’s employment data.
On ya ABS: keep the trends a-comin’
The ABS goes to great trouble to provide trend figures for major statistical series, and the value of this exercise was again highlighted with the release of the figures for employment and unemployment in April, writes Richard Farmer.
Job numbers take a sharp tumble
So what will the “Rate Rise Looms” mob do with the April labour force data, which showed there was a sharp fall in job numbers created last month?
Health and the hollowing-out of the economy
The real “hollowing out” of the Australian economy is likely to come from the health sector, which is our biggest employer and one of our fastest growing.
Inconvenient labour data for the deregulationistas
February unemployment data shows more solid growth in the economy, and the forecast rise in industrial disputes hasn’t materialised.
Data fit for flaccid economy — wages, construction figures flat or falling
Wages and construction data out today don’t exactly suggest a vibrant economy or the need for a new round of IR reform.
Do banks actually pay economists to make comments like this?
The newsagency AAP has reported the ABS retail sales figures for December as rising “only timidly” adding that “economists say” the Christmas trading period was impacted by the Queensland floods, writes Richard Farmer.
ABS reports suggest that retail is doing it tough
The damage to the retailing sector from the sluggish spending in the closing months of 2010 was underlined in a trio of reports this morning.
Job figures show that more are confident in the workforce
Something is not adding up in Australia, or Australians are exhibiting behavourial patterns never seen before.
Despite 106,000 new jobs, the economy slows
Can an economy that created just over 106,000 new jobs in the three months to September, slow to a dirge-like stutter?
