GDP lifts and revisions push it higher still. In QLD public sector acts as a drag

The second quarter GDP data released this morning came in somewhat higher than expectations (although the better than expected numbers came about largely from “statistical discrepancy’ adding 0.2 ppts). The market had been looking for real GDP to lift 0.7-0.8% for the quarter to give a 2.7% y/y figure. The …read more

Updated regional population data. Cairns thumping Townsville

The ABS today revised their regional population data for 2016 and 2017, so we wanted to update our post from April (see original here) to reflect the revised data. At the SA4 level Cairns increased from 2016 to 2017 by 3,061 people (or 1.2%). We can dig deeper into the …read more

Building Approvals continue to drift lower. In QLD it’s mainly houses falling

ABS data for July residential building approvals show them down 5.2% m/m, -5.6% y/y (seasonally adjusted) after a solid move higher last month (which was revised slightly higher still). The less volatile Trend series shows a m/m decline of 1.3%, down 2.5% y/y; this is the first year-on-year decline in …read more

Jobseeker Trend remains stable in Cairns

With the ABS regional labour force data, and the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend of that data, showing the unemployment situation improving slightly in Cairns over the past couple of months it’s a little surprising that today’s Trend analysis of the July Jobseeker data from the Dept of Social Services shows …read more

Regions beating Greater Brisbane in jobs stakes; but end of the mining boom still hangs over them

Today’s Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional Employment Trend data allow us to take a look at what is happening across Queensland with regard to the split between Greater Brisbane and the Rest of Queensland; and what it shows us is that the regions are currently doing rather better than the capital. …read more

Cairns Trend unemployment rate drops again

The ABS release of their original labour force July data for the regions today allows us to update our own Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional Employment Trend data. We see Trend employment in Cairns lifted 1,000 in July (after June’s increase was also revised up) with 900 of those positions in …read more

The Chinese tourism boom is slowing

Today’s data from the ABS of Short Term Arrivals and Departures for June confirms the slowdown in the growth of Chinese tourism into the country. While arrivals into Australia grew 5.4% y/y (seasonally adjusted) the number from China was unchanged (seasonally adjusted) since last year and up just 2.3% on …read more

Queensland labour market disappoints (again)

The July labour force data released today was a mixed bag at the national level. Although (seasonally adjusted) employment dipped by 3,900 we saw the unemployment rate also dip to 5.3%. The reason…a decline inĀ  the participation rate. The average hours worked per member of the working age population remained …read more

Wages growth remains insipid…just as expected

Today saw the release of the June quarter Wages Price Index, and it shows us growth in wages stuck at the (expected) annual rate of 2.1%. Quarterly growth lifted a touch from the previous quarter (again, as expected) to register a 0.6% increase. When considering the split across the private …read more

Regional Trend shows approvals slowdown is all in the regions

Today saw the release of the ABS original regional building approvals data for June. Last week we saw the Trend data for Queensland showing a 5.2% decline for the year; today’s data (when seen through the Conus Trend series) confirms that this slowdown is all due to the regions. For …read more

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