Comments from a reader to yesterday’s post regarding Cairns and Townsville regional labour force data, together with a post from Loose Change on Cairns Participation, have spurred me into taking a closer look at Participation in both regions and the effect this is having on the unemployment rate. To recap; …read more
The ABS release of regional labour market data has shown the Cairns region performed remarkably well in July despite the national and state weakness that we saw last week (see here for our comments at the time). The headline, unadjusted data might appear unbelievably good but when we see through that and …read more
Our friend Gene Tunny (Queensland Economy Watch) gave a speech to the University of the Third Age, Redlands yesterday which is well worth a read. It’s an interesting precis of Australian economic history and a review of what might be in our futures. Of particular interest for our region is …read more
Feelings are running hot in Cairns regarding the proposed Aquis Resort. The anti-Aquis community group Aquis Aware Coalition of Concerned Citizens has publicly released their submission on the Environmental Impact Statement; and they’re obviously not fans. However, while criticising (with some justification) the EIS for its accuracy and content, the group’s …read more
Yesterday saw plenty of commentary about the poor jobs numbers (see our own piece here). In particular we, and others, highlighted the weakness in the QLD data (see here). Predictably today has seen something of a rush to defend the record from the State Government. This article sums up the …read more
This morning’s labour force data was a shocker for QLD, particularly when we consider the situation for full-time jobs. The chart below makes it clear that, as far as full-time jobs are concerned, the Blues not only won Origin but are thrashing the Maroons here too. QLD is the only …read more
The short-term arrivals and departures data from the ABS this morning showed arrivals down sharply in June from May. At 565,000 they were just 0.4% higher than in June 2013. However, over the past 12 months total arrivals are up 7.7% on the same period a year ago and stand …read more
Today’s labour force data from the ABS for July is a shocker. Jobs, which had been expected to rise by about 12,000, actually fell 300 (and June’s increase was revised lower to +14.9). The headline seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 6.4% (from 6.0% in June); the increase slightly mitigated …read more
As had been universally expected, the RBA have left the Cash Rate on hold at 2.5% at today’s meeting. The full statement (see here) is little changed from last month. There is still reference to a “strong expansion in housing construction”, the fact that “the Bank still expects growth to …read more
Todays’ release of the June Retail Trade data shows turnover at current prices up 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) for the month. While this is stronger than expected it is hard to get away from the reality that retail sales are extremely sluggish when we consider that, when adjusted for inflation, turnover in …read more