Tag Archives: abs

Gig economy and baby boomers easing into retirement would partly explain why jobs growth mostly part-time

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The July labour force data released by the ABS yesterday were good news for Australia and Queensland, with the unemployment rate falling in seasonally adjusted terms for both Australia, from 5.8% to 5.7%, and for Queensland, from 6.4% to 6.1%. … Continue reading →

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After botched 2016 Census, let’s have it every ten years and properly resource and manage it

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The compliance cost to the community of the upcoming Census has been magnified by the anxiety its botched implementation is causing Australians (see this Fairfax report on Census chaos). It appears many elderly Australians have been surprised by the letters … Continue reading →

Posted in Population, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Were 80% of new Qld jobs in 2015-16 public service jobs?

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The Courier-Mail is correct to highlight the large increase in public service employment that has occurred recently in Queensland, and it is on the right track in suggesting public service jobs are a large share of new jobs created, but … Continue reading →

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Townsville’s double digit unemployment rate signifies major downturn in region

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday afternoon I had a good chat with Pat Hession on Townsville ABC Radio about the latest discouraging unemployment data for my old home town of Townsville. Readers will be familiar with the vastly different economic conditions across Queensland (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Townsville, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

IR reforms could improve employment opportunities for young Australians

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Almost eight years after the 2008 financial crisis, young Australians still face a significantly tougher job market than before the crisis. To illustrate, the employment-to-population ratio for young Australians aged 15 to 24 remains well below rates experienced prior to … Continue reading →

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Qld unemployment rate creeps up to 6.5 percent due to ongoing weakness in regions

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Gene Tunny

NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster had a memorable quote regarding the latest NAB Business Survey results published in The Australian yesterday: “West Australia is going backwards, South Australia is in no great shakes and Northern Queensland is just as bad, … Continue reading →

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Qld has lowest annual growth in retail turnover among States and Territories

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Weak economic conditions in parts of regional Queensland, particularly the Townsville, Central Queensland and outback regions, have no doubt contributed to Queensland having the lowest through-the-year growth in retail turnover among States and Territories, according to May retail turnover data … Continue reading →

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Heavy construction decline has been greater in Qld than in WA

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Gene Tunny

As I have discussed previously, relatively weak economic conditions in several Queensland regions, including Townsville and the outback, have been partly due to the mining downturn (see my post from last Saturday). At the same time as capital expenditure on … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Qld returns to fourth place in population growth as WA falls back

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The new population data released by the ABS last week reveal Queensland is still growing slower than the national average, and much slower than Victoria (see first chart below), a State to which we are still losing interstate migrants in … Continue reading →

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Workforce participation drops as Qld economy under-performs

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Far North Queensland-based economist Pete Faulkner published a great analysis of the ABS labour force estimates for May on his blog yesterday (Jobs data in Qld is poor again): Unfortunately the picture in Queensland continues to be a weaker one. … Continue reading →

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