Tag Archives: abs

Resources sector investment hasn’t peaked yet in Qld – we now lead Australia in construction

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Unlike the rest of Australia, construction activity increased in Queensland in the March quarter. This was due to heavy, so-called engineering construction, no doubt resources sector-related, as residential and non-residential building activity (i.e. houses, flats, office buildings, shopping centres, etc) continues … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

ABS should review administration of Labour Force Survey in North Qld

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I remember one of the old hands in the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office telling me back around 2000 that they once queried the ABS about the reliability of labour force data for Queensland, and were told the main point of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, North Queensland, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Six of the ten high growth mining towns in Queensland

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The ABS published an excellent Australian Social Trends piece on Towns of the Mining Boom yesterday, noting the impact of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers. Six of the ten high growth mining towns reported by the ABS are in Queensland (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Major projects construction activity still strong, but appears to be peaking

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Gene Tunny

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens, who incidentally was re-appointed for another three years today, has recently observed that the mining construction boom would peak in the near future. The latest ABS data on engineering construction activity appear to confirm this view, … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Public sector hiring freeze continues

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Job vacancies data released by the ABS yesterday point to continuing weakness in the labour market, with job vacancies of 26,000 in February 2013 compared with 36,100 in February 2012. Around one-third of the decline in job vacancies through the … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

GFC-induced frugality hasn’t stopped drift to private schools

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Gene Tunny

In the wake of the financial crisis, Australians started saving more (see my post Retail trade restrained by stubbornly high saving rate), but it appears they are still willing to spend money on a private school education for their children. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Pause in recovery in new motor vehicle sales in Qld

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Gene Tunny

While Queensland had decent growth of 6.9% through-the-year to February 2013 in new motor vehicle sales, we actually had the lowest growth rate across all States and Territories in new sales (see today’s new ABS data). Eyeballing the data, I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Retail trade, Transport | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

RBA says SEQ builders see signs of improvement in sector

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Christopher Kent of the RBA has given an informative speech on Recent Developments in the Housing Market, in which he noted there are signs of improvement in the SEQ building industry: Approvals in Queensland have been subdued, particularly on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Labour market | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Did Qld’s sluggish economy force NZers and Brits back home?

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The controversy over the ABS’s odd comments on female representation in leadership positions (Women don’t have what it takes to lead, finds ABS) led me to examine its latest Social Trends report, which contains this interesting set of facts on international … Continue reading →

Posted in Migration | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

HIA still worried about Qld housing industry

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Building approvals are a reasonably good leading indicator of economic activity across the economy because the construction industry employs nearly 10% of the workforce (see this OESR table) and it buys a lot of products from other parts of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment