Tag Archives: employment

Qld jobs market remains sluggish – unlikely trend unemployment rate fell last month

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Today’s labour force data from the ABS confirmed that the jobs market remains sluggish, with Queensland’s unemployment rate at 5.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. Unfortunately, the ABS data aren’t very precise for Queensland and it’s hard to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Signs are good, but Qld economy not roaring back yet

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Paul Syvret in the Courier-Mail today has a good summary of recent positive economic news for Queensland (Queensland economy recovers from GFC with new jobless low of 5.6pc), but I think some of the commentators he interviewed are getting a … Continue reading →

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Gold Coast outlook continues to improve

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Gene Tunny

After a period of weakness following the financial crisis, during which many Gold Coast tradies had to drive up the M1 every day to jobs in Brisbane and Ipswich (see my 2011 post Tradies know what it means to live in … Continue reading →

Posted in Gold Coast, Labour market | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Reasons to be optimistic Qld will cope with shock from mining investment decline

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Gene Tunny

BIS Shrapnel’s new report on the mining industry appears to pick up the points made at the Energy Skills Queensland conference I attended last week regarding how gas will boom, but the outlook for minerals is much less optimistic (More … Continue reading →

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More on the mining slowdown

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I posted last week on how the new ABS labour force data show a slowing in the growth rate of mining employment, but no decline in employment yet, as one might have expected based on reports of job losses at … Continue reading →

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Mining employment in Qld continues to grow, but at slower rate

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Employment in the Queensland mining sector still appears to be growing, although at a slower rate, according to the detailed quarterly data released today (see chart below). This suggests the concerns raised earlier in the year by some commentators over … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Slowdown in Qld mining sector jobs growth, but no slump like in WA yet

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Gene Tunny

MacroBusiness had a good post the other day (Where are the job gains and losses?) based on the detailed quarterly ABS labour force data released on Thursday. MacroBusiness’s charts show very slow growth in mining employment in Queensland and a … Continue reading →

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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

How were job losses shared across Qld Government agencies?

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Gene Tunny

An article in the Financial Review this morning (Government jobs growth masks softer employment market) prompted me to examine the Queensland public service data more closely. Given the significant Queensland public service (QPS) job cuts over the last nine months, … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Health, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Qld struck by Dutch Disease – manufacturing employment has plunged in last few years

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The so-called Dutch Disease of a booming resources sector and a contracting manufacturing sector has been very evident in Queensland over the last few years, as seen in the chart below based on the latest vintage of ABS quarterly labour … Continue reading →

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