Tag Archives: unemployment

Low employment growth over the term of the outgoing Qld Government

As an economist, I’m naturally a big believer in the importance of economic factors in society. And I thought one (though not the only) reason for the big swing against the Newman Government was Queensland’s lacklustre economy, which was largely … Continue reading

Posted in Labour market | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How many new jobs needed to be created over the Qld Government’s first term?

I was surprised earlier this month when I first saw the Queensland Government’s election campaign ad on TV noting the Government was creating over 1,100 new jobs per month. As I’ve noted previously, while the Government has had a number … Continue reading

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Qld Govt benefits from volatile jobs data – still vulnerable over bulk of jobs growth being part-time over first term

The volatile labour force data yielded a nice surprise for the Queensland Government today, with the seasonally adjusted rate falling from 6.8% to 6.1% between November and December last year, and the trend rate falling marginally, too, though staying the … Continue reading

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

ABC radio interview on outlook for Qld economy

Steve Austin from 612 ABC Brisbane interviewed me yesterday morning regarding the economic outlook, and I gave my current view that the economy is relatively weak at the moment, but there are reasons for optimism for later in the year … Continue reading

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Queensland economic outlook for 2015

It became clear toward the end of 2014 that the upcoming Queensland election would be fought in a relatively weak economy. 2014 unfortunately saw an increase in Queensland’s unemployment rate from around 6 per cent to around 7 per cent … Continue reading

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Qld Government likely to go into election campaign with weak economy

New ABS data released today show a large drop in engineering construction activity – i.e. the heavy construction activity that has been largely associated with the resources sector in recent years. At the same time as this drop is occurring, … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Update on regional unemployment in Queensland

As I’ve commented on before (Good news for regional Qld if Carmichael mine goes ahead – jobs market weaker than in SEQ), over the last twelve months or so, there has been a large difference in employment growth between SEQ … Continue reading

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Any Strong Choices jobs boost will come too late to do anything about current weakness

While there is more than the usual uncertainty about the reliability of recent jobs data from the ABS, yesterday’s awful data for Queensland, with unemployment now at 7% seasonally adjusted, can be read as confirming the economy is pretty weak … Continue reading

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Ipswich & rest of Western Corridor suffering disproportionately from Qld’s weak labour market

Ipswich and other parts of the Western Corridor are suffering disproportionately from Queensland’s weak labour market, according to the most recent estimates produced by the Department of Employment which combine Centrelink and ABS data (see map below, which can be … Continue reading

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Top 10 posts from the first 1,000

Yesterday I posted my 1,000th post, and below are links to the most clicked from the first 1,000. Having grown up in Townsville, and knowing the intense debate the issue causes up North, it didn’t surprise me that a post … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, Climate change, Labour market, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments