Category Archives: Labour market

Female breadwinning podcast chat with Gigi Foster

Posted on April 8, 2021 by Gene Tunny

UNSW Economics Professor Gigi Foster, who you may know from her appearances on ABC’s Q&A and The Economists podcast, has done some fascinating research on the phenomenon of female breadwinning, whereby, in around one-in-four partnerships, the female earns more than … Continue reading →

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CommSec’s weird assessment of Victoria’s economic growth as leading the nation in State of the States

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Gene Tunny

This afternoon, Australian Institute for Progress Executive Director Graham Young alerted me to his conversation with 612 ABC Brisbane host Steve Austin and McKell Institute Executive Chair Rachel Nolan yesterday on Steve’s Drive program (from around 2:26:30) regarding the CommSec … Continue reading →

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Unpacking the increase in the unemployment rate since March 2020

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Gene Tunny

In my post last Thursday, I discussed Why Qld’s unemployment rate is highest in nation despite better jobs recovery during pandemic than rest of Australia. I noted a large part of the story was “Queensland’s strong recovery (and over-shooting) in … Continue reading →

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Why Qld’s unemployment rate is highest in nation despite better jobs recovery during pandemic than rest of Australia

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Gene Tunny

When I spoke with Scott Emerson on his 4BC Drive program on Monday (see my Monday QEW post), he asked me how it was that Queensland could possibly have a higher unemployment rate than Victoria given the harsh restrictions they … Continue reading →

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COVID compared with wartime economic impacts – my latest podcast episode

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Gene Tunny

The latest episode of my Economics Explored podcast features a conversation on whether COVID can be compared to wartime. The episode considers the different scales and scopes of the shocks, and what it all means for prospects for economic recovery. In … Continue reading →

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Christmas Eve post-6pm public holiday should have been repealed in this year of COVID

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Gene Tunny

A prominent Brisbane man about town and long-time QEW reader has reminded me that last year I posted on the ridiculous Christmas Eve half-day public holiday, and he said that it was particularly costly in this year of COVID. Here’s … Continue reading →

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Qld Treasurer was premature in claiming recovery to pre-COVID jobs level

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Last month, I dissected the Queensland Treasurer’s bold claim that more Queenslanders are working now than were working pre-COVID (check out my 21 November post). I thought it was a bold claim given a) the substantial sampling error at the … Continue reading →

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Minimum wages and employment podcast discussion

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Apart from Joe Biden winning the US Presidency and the Democratic Party otherwise under-performing, in my view, the major news coming out of last week’s elections in the US was Florida voting to increase its minimum wage to $15/hour by … Continue reading →

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Chat with Joe Branigan on LNP’s New Bradfield Scheme and 5% jobless target and Labor’s $600M Council cash splash

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday afternoon I caught up with my good friend and former Treasury colleague Joe Branigan to chat about the upcoming Queensland election, and you can listen to our wide-ranging conversation via the player/link below. Among other issues, we chatted about … Continue reading →

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Qld has highest unemployment rate, but we’ve actually coped with COVID-shock better than most states

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Queensland once again has the highest unemployment rate in Australia (7.7% compared with a national average of 6.9%), as revealed by the September Labour Force Survey data released by the ABS yesterday, but we need to be careful in jumping … Continue reading →

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