The release of the ABS original regional building approvals data allows us to update our Conus Trend series for April. Lats week we saw nationwide Trend approvals up 3.9% for the year while Queensland registered a 6.4% decline. Today’s data allows us to see that Greater Brisbane approvals fell 8.7% …read more
Today’s release of the March 2020 quarter Labour Account data series provides a wealth of information. One thing it allows us to do is take a look at incomes across various industry sectors and how they have changed in the past 12 months. The data provides us, for each industry …read more
There has been a lot written about the fact that the Participation Rates across Australia fell sharply as the effects of the COVID-19 lock-down took effect. These falls at national, state and regional level had the effect of suppressing the anticipated rises in the unemployment rates. Participation rates, prior to …read more
Yesterday’s national GDP data (see here for commentary) showed that Australia is in recession; first quarter GDP fell 0.3% qq and, as is abundantly clear, the second quarter data will show a further significant decline (our projection is for a 8.7% qq fall). This national data, combined with the recent …read more
The release of the Q1 GDP data by the ABS this morning confirms what anyone already knows…Australia is in recession. Although we will not get the official numbers for the second quarter for another three months, it is clear that a three month shut-down from March will inevitably mean a …read more
While the ABS produce Gross State Product data only on an annual basis we must rely on the quarterly estimates from QLD Treasury for the intermediate periods. We’ll get the ABS estimates of State Final Demand for the first quarter 2020 tomorrow with the release of national GDP data, but …read more
Much has happened since we last updated our model projections. We’ve had the ABS regional labour force data (see here for commentary and the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trends) which showed large declines in participation across the nation, state and regions; the ABS produced their Payroll data up to the week …read more
{This post is an edited version of a previously published one that contained some data errors…our apologies for any confusion} As we noted when the ABS released their April Labour Force data at National and State level (see here) they chose to temporarily cease the production of their Trend series. …read more
I spoke about regional employment in Central and North Queensland on a webinar organised by Solar Citizens yesterday. I was joined by Solar Citizens National Director, Ellen Roberts and David Leitch from energy specialist consultancy ITK who spoke about the opportunities in the solar and wind space for Central and …read more
The release of the April Labour Force survey today was always expected to throw up some surprises. This is the first monthly data set that reveals the true extent of the COVID-19 impacts on the labour market. Market expectations around the level of employment losses had been remarkably similar (given …read more