Category Archives: Labour market

Teenagers have had tough time in labour market since financial crisis

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Gene Tunny

A creative reader and former colleague of mine, who goes by the nickname Toad, today sent me an interesting chart, presented below, that he has prepared on teenage labour force data for Queensland (you may need to open it in another … Continue reading →

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Failure of Strong Choices now obvious – missed chance to persuade on asset sales

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland Government should have directly made the case for asset sales, rather than hoping people would conclude they’re necessary after playing the choose-your-own-budget game on the Strong Choices website, a point I’ve made a few times over the last few weeks (see … Continue reading →

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Recent vacancies data suggest we shouldn’t get too excited about jobs market just yet

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Tomorrow’s release of April labour force data from the ABS will hopefully confirm a recovery in the job market in Queensland, continuing the positive trend from last month (see my post from last month: Qld unemployment rate falls slightly to … Continue reading →

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Higher incidence of long-term unemployment in outer metro areas, Qld outback and Wide Bay

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Around one-in-five of the 150,000 or so unemployed people in Queensland have been out of work for one year or more, corresponding to around 30,000 people, according to ABS labour force data. There is considerable variation in the incidence of … Continue reading →

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Economics: Keeping the World in Business – speech to high school students at UQ

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Below is the prepared text of a talk I gave to high school students attending the Careers that Shape the World day at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, on Wednesday, 23 April 2014. I varied the talk significantly … Continue reading →

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Penalty rates reform a priority given youth unemployment rate

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Easter long weekend has once again highlighted the adverse impact penalty rates are having on the hospitality sector, with the Courier-Mail reporting restaurants close over Easter as penalty rates see wages skyrocket. I’ve commented before on how penalty rates make it … Continue reading →

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Qld unemployment rate falls slightly to 6.1% – rising participation a good sign

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The March labour force data released today by the ABS, showing the unemployment rate falling to 5.8% from 6.1% in February, were good news for the Australian economy, as reflected in the dollar surging and one prominent commentator forecasting an … Continue reading →

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Challenging labour market conditions for young Australians

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Professor Jeff Borland has recently published an informative labour market snapshot on What is happening to jobs for the young? As Professor Borland notes, employment opportunities for young people have declined significantly over the last few years as employers have become … Continue reading →

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Qld unemployment hot spots – Ipswich, Cairns and Wide Bay

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Gene Tunny

I’ve prepared some maps of regional unemployment rates based on last week’s new regional labour force data from the ABS for February 2014 (see below). The figures I’ve used are taken from Queensland Treasury’s information brief, which presents 12-month moving … Continue reading →

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Something for the optimists in today’s labour force data

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Gene Tunny

My friend and former Treasury colleague Joe Branigan has found some good news for Queensland in today’s new labour force data. Earlier today, Joe tweeted an interesting chart (see below), showing Queensland has led Australia in the growth of hours … Continue reading →

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