Category Archives: Macroeconomy

Bad economic news keeps coming – declining job vacancies & inverted US yield curve

Posted on March 25, 2019 by

The federal Department of Jobs and Small Business published its February 2019 internet job vacancies data last week, and it revealed a continuation of the downward trend in job vacancies, which were 5.5% lower in Queensland and 4.0% lower nationally … Continue reading →

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Credit cycle in downswing phase

Posted on March 12, 2019 by

There is a lot of disappointing economic data coming out for Australia lately. Today the ABS released its January 2019 Lending to households and businesses estimates which  confirmed the credit cycle is in the downswing phase (see chart above). This … Continue reading →

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Is it nonsense to talk about a “GDP per capita recession”?

Posted on March 10, 2019 by

My colleague Nick Behrens from QEAS is critical of recent references to Australia’s “GDP per capita recession” by the media and the federal Opposition in his latest post A GDP per capita recession is nonsense. Recall that the December quarter … Continue reading →

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Qld economy was goosed up by gov’t spending in final quarter of 2018

Posted on March 7, 2019 by

Australia’s weak 0.2% GDP growth in December quarter has prompted talk of a “per capita recession”, as our economy has now been growing at a slower rate than the population for two consecutive quarters (see this SMH report). The national … Continue reading →

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How you can automate ABS data analysis and charting using R – preview of my upcoming course

Posted on March 5, 2019 by

In my latest video, I demonstrate how I use the freeware programming language R to automate my analysis and charting of economic data, using the December quarter business indicators data published by the ABS yesterday as an example. I am … Continue reading →

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Qld construction industry outlook for 2019 discouraging despite #BNE2025 projects

Posted on March 3, 2019 by

My colleague Nick Behrens from QEAS has published an informative post on the major projects, such as Cross River Rail and Brisbane Live, which will boost construction activity in Brisbane in future years: The BNE 2025 projects represent a renaissance … Continue reading →

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Qld mining CAPEX up 13% or by over $1 billion in 2018

Posted on February 28, 2019 by

The December quarter capital expenditure data published by the ABS today have beaten expectations (e.g. see Business investment rebounds in otherwise cooling economy), which means the GDP figures which will be released next week will very likely be better than expected. … Continue reading →

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