Category Archives: Labour market

Government misses 100,000 jobs target

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Gene Tunny

It’s undeniable the Queensland economy has been weak in recent years, and as a consequence the Government has been unable to hit its unambitious jobs target of 100,000 new jobs, which it announced during the 2009 election campaign: I’m looking … Continue reading →

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Treasury will find diversity target hard to meet

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson gave a speech in Canberra today setting out Treasury’s agenda to increase the diversity in its ranks, which is an admirable goal given line agencies joke they can tell Treasury officers by their dark suits … Continue reading →

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Resources sector jobs multiplier

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Following my post last week on the Brisbane Economic Development Plan, an informed reader suggested that the source of the eyebrow-raising resources sector jobs multiplier of 19 may have been the Queensland Resources Council-sponsored study of the sector’s economic contribution … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Labour market, Mining | 2 Comments

Public sector starts to show wage restraint

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Given the budgetary challenges facing State Governments across Australia, it was good to see signs of public sector wage restraint in the latest ABS Labour Price Index data. This chart for Queensland shows private sector wages are now growing slightly … Continue reading →

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The 4% unemployment rate target – achievability vs sustainability

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Gene Tunny

There is a good post at Loose Change on the sustainability of the Opposition’s 4% unemployment rate commitment, which links to my previous post showing that the commitment is feasible, in an arithmetic sense at least. On its sustainability, my … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy | 3 Comments

Qantas sheds 500 jobs, but economy gained 46,400 jobs in January

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Gene Tunny

A colleague of mine thinks it says something about the quality of economic journalism in this country that Qantas shedding 500 jobs overshadowed the excellent ABS employment data released today, as shown by this screen shot from the Age website … Continue reading →

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Community sector pay rise will hit the Qld budget

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Judith Sloan has a fantastic column in the Australian today on yesterday’s Fair Work Australia decision to grant large pay rises to social and community services (SACS) workers, in which she notes the budgetary costs to State Governments: Another unsavoury … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Labour market | 1 Comment

Is Far North Qld recovering?

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Cairns-based blogger KS at Loose Change has a couple of recent posts on news that may suggest a (modest) economic recovery is underway in the Far North: Airline flights boost Unemployment falls According to the latest OESR regional unemployment brief … Continue reading →

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Recommended reading – Time Bomb: Work, rest and play in Australia today

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Gene Tunny

While my free market bias means I don’t share all the policy views of the authors, I still think Time Bomb: Work, rest and play in Australia today is a terrific book with lots of interesting facts about the work-life … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market | 1 Comment

Employment data no cause for concern – although Bligh’s jobs target harder to hit

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Given the high degree of volatility from month-to-month in the ABS’s employment estimates, I tend not to worry too much about unfavourable monthly movements, as I outlined in my previous post Media over-reacts to jobs data. Of course, the media … Continue reading →

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