Harry Ottley, economist at CBA, published a terrific set of charts showing the explosion in non-market jobs, where there is often a lack of market prices and wages are heavily subsidised by the government, and the implications for Australia’s labour productivity. Ottley shows that in the year to Q4 2024, the number of employed persons
The Department of Education released data on the number of international students studying in Australia. A record 1.095 million international students were enrolled in Australia at the end of December 2024. This was up around 150,000 from the pre-COVID peak in 2019 and around 500,000 higher than a decade ago. International student commencements also hit
DXY is back and EUR flamed out. AUD is getting kicked in the teeth. And the shorts have piled back in. Lead boots tripped. Trump will regret damaging Iranian oil output. Commodities were hammered. Big miners are in a big bear market. EM yawn. Junk stressed a bit. Need more. Yields flat. Stocks flat. AUD
By Stephen Saunders Major-party election-offerings are unsympathetic to ordinary voters. Coalition indolence (and overstated Trump fears) may well re-elect Labor or (heavens no) Labor-Greens. At MacroBusiness also The Australian, I’ve portrayed Election 2025 as a winning romp for the top 20% regardless of who becomes prime minister. Meaning, little improvement across crucial indicators such as
Global Reading: Trump’s trade war could claim a new victim: Canada and Europe are reconsidering $150 million Lockheed Martin fighter jets – Fortune Billionaire Peter Thiel Warns of a Looming Real Estate ‘Catastrophe’—A ‘Massive Hit to the Lower Middle Class and Young People’ Who Can’t Buy Homes – Yahoo Trump’s US Commerce Secretary, who owns
CreditorWatch warned that almost one out of every six (16.2%) hospitality firms is at risk of failing due to high interest rates, rising rents, cost-of-living pressures, and the pandemic hangover. CreditorWatch forecast that roughly one in eleven (8.9%) food and beverage enterprises would close in 2025. The latest insolvency data from the Australian Securities and Investments
This is so dumb or corrupt that I don’t know where to look. Sky. Shadow energy minister Susan McDonald has hit out at Labor over Australia’s looming gas crisis, declaring state and federal governments needed to “get out of the way” and allow more projects to proceed. …Speaking on Sky News Australia, shadow resources minister
Australians are hurting following an 8% decline in real per capita household disposable income since the Albanese government came into office. Australian households have suffered from an inexorable rises in gas and electricity prices. Australian renters have suffered from a near 50% rise in rents since the pandemic, driven mainly by the surge in net
The Victorian government’s financial troubles are widely documented. In 2023-24, the state had the nation’s highest per capita net debt and the lowest credit rating (AA). The trend growth in Victoria’s debt is equally alarming. The two leading international rating agencies, S&P and Moody’s, warned that if debt levels are not managed, Victoria’s credit rating
Three months ago, I questioned why the population numbers contained in the Q3 ABS national accounts differed so widely from the official Q2 population figures released one week later by the ABS: That is, the Q3 national accounts implied 656,000 population growth for 2023–24, versus 552,000 growth in the official quarterly population data. That represented