Monthly Archives: June 2020

Qld Gov’t COVID-19 Adaption Grants program poorly designed

The Queensland Government’s $200 million COVID-19 Adaption Grants program for small businesses is poorly designed and pretty embarrassing, with the Employment Minister Shannon Fentiman today telling businesses “My strong advice is get in quick.” I was stunned when I read … Continue reading

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Aussie unemployment & underemployment video

In my latest video, I expand on my post from last Monday True Queensland unemployment rate around 12% and discuss just how bad the Australian labour market is at the moment. Thanks to those readers who commented on the post … Continue reading

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A Fiscal Vaccine for COVID-19 with Tony Makin – new podcast episode

In my latest podcast episode, I speak with Professor Tony Makin of Griffith University about his new CIS Policy Paper A Fiscal Vaccine for COVID-19. In Tony’s words: “the paper considers the resurgence of crude Keynesianism before highlighting risks of … Continue reading

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True Qld unemployment rate around 12%

The true Queensland unemployment rate is around 12% rather than the official 7.9%. I’m not suggesting the ABS is being tricky. The ABS is accurately applying the internationally accepted Labour Force Statistics methodology. But we must look beyond the ABS … Continue reading

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Official Qld unemployment rate of 7.9% doesn’t tell the full story

It’s obvious the official unemployment rate figures from the ABS are understating the true unemployment rate due to large numbers of people having left the labour force, evidenced by the collapse in the workforce participation rate. The official estimates for … Continue reading

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Gender pay gap recap – latest podcast episode

Andrew Leigh MP’s Inequality Bites video Underpaid & Over It prompted me to have another look at the gender pay gap in my latest Economics Explained podcast episode. Resources mentioned in the episode include: Blau and Kahn JEL article on … Continue reading

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Jobs coming back as economy reopens

The AFR’s Matthew Cranston has nicely summarised the latest payroll data published by the ABS yesterday in his article Job market crawls off floor as recovery begins: The worst appears to be over in the job market with Tax Office … Continue reading

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Qld-NSW border & Qld Chief Economist comments

I’ve recorded a new video commenting on: the cost to the Queensland economy of the interstate border closure and other coronavirus measures (thanks to CCIQ for putting some estimates out there, which I’ve provided links to below), what’s been happening … Continue reading

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Seven Habits podcast discussion

In the latest episode of my podcast, I discuss one of my all-time favourite books, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, with regular podcast guest Tim Hughes. I focus on the relevance of the 7 Habits to economists. … Continue reading

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Economic update: US jobs & Australian PBO fiscal projections

I’ve recorded a video covering the May US jobs data, which have been greeted very positively by the markets despite the data showing only a small rebound*, and the Australian Parliamentary Budget Office’s rather pessimistic projection of an additional $620 … Continue reading

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