Tag Archives: unemployment

Unemployment in outer Brisbane

Katherine Feeney has a great article on the Brisbane Times website this morning: Unemployment hitting Brisbane’s outer suburbs hardest. It contains some commentary from me on Brisbane’s labour market that I gave to Katherine when she interviewed me yesterday, in response … Continue reading

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

Which suburbs of Brisbane had the largest increases in unemployment?

After looking at the new regional unemployment data for June 2013 last week, I wondered about the distribution of job losses across the Brisbane metropolitan area (see my previous post Largest unemployment rate increases over 2012-13 in metro Brisbane and … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Labour market | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Largest unemployment rate increases over 2012-13 in metro Brisbane and Central Qld

I’ve mapped the changes in regional unemployment rates over 2012-13 (based on Queensland Treasury’s briefing on yesterday’s ABS data) in the maps below. The largest increases in the unemployment rate are in metropolitan Brisbane, related in part to public service … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Labour market, Mackay, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Don’t read too much into one month’s unemployment figures – Qld data pretty volatile

Today’s unemployment figures from the ABS confirm a lacklustre economic outlook for Queensland over 2013-14 as the resources sector slows down, but I think it’s too early to conclude we’re heading for anything worse than expected. That is, based on … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, Labour market, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Queensland regional unemployment maps, May 2013

I’ve prepared some maps based on the ABS regional unemployment rate data released yesterday. I’ve taken the numbers from Queensland Treasury’s briefing on the data, which presents 12-month moving averages of the ABS data to smooth out the high degree … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Cairns, Labour market, Wide Bay-Burnett | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Public service cuts had only temporary impact on unemployment rate

It’s now clear that Queensland public service cuts have had only a temporary impact on the unemployment rate, as I expected and have previously posted on (see Temporary surge in unemployment due to public service cuts and spending restraint). While the unemployment … Continue reading

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Could Victorian manufacturing job losses lead to an increase in interstate migration to Qld?

In a post last Thursday in response to the announced Ford plant closures, Mark Beath at Loose Change (Car crash!) wondered whether job losses in Victoria could lead to a revival of interstate migration to Queensland from Victoria, which is … Continue reading

Posted in Migration, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

ABS should review administration of Labour Force Survey in North Qld

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

RBA says SEQ builders see signs of improvement in sector

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

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Very surprising employment numbers for Qld – ABS needs to investigate volatility

Given the low levels of job vacancies toward the end of 2012 (see this previous post), I’m very surprised to see the strong rebound in employment in January (30,200 new jobs) and the unemployment rate dropping to 5.5% from 6.1% … Continue reading

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