Of the news on prices, wages, interest rates and unemployment, only the unemployment update looks set to be positive for the Coalition.
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You might be surprised to know that many unemployed Australians are not on unemployment benefits. And then came COVID – which saw a big shift in how many people were able and willing to claim.
Away from the states bouncing out of lockdown, spending growth was weak. The next figures, to be released after the election, might show the economy turning down.
Looking beyond the latest quarterly GDP figures, the truth is we’re getting better off more slowly than before.
When low-wage workers lose jobs the average wage goes up. There’s a better measure, but we’re not using it.
Despite the ABS itself saying that collecting data on LGBTIQ+ communities is of ‘national importance’, these questions have been left off the census again — for no good reason.
We spend more on alcohol than we’ll admit, less on electricity and gas combined than we think.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is doing what it can to push back against lobby groups’ over-inflated claims of job creation — but it can’t stop people misusing its figures.
Businesses won’t employ more people unless they are prepared to invest. Figures out on Thursday suggest they are.
With the end of JobKeeper come changes that will force more people to search for work.
This government has known more about the granular detail of the crisis than any government in any crisis before it.
Economic activity has returned to almost what it was before the crisis, but to nowhere near were it would have been were it not for the crisis.
New data from the ABS shows how people adjusted their consumption patterns and behaviours during the early COVID-19 restrictions — and how some lifestyle changes have remained since then.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures suggest there have been more than 800 ‘excess deaths’ in Australia in January-March 2020, relative to the average, but only 103 confirmed COVID-19 deaths so far.
Even in places that are now COVID-free spending remains subdued, and different.
The best case scenario sees a short-term recovery to the depths of the 1980s and 1990s recessions.
Incomes climbed as we snapped our wallets shut in the March quarter. The June quarter will be much, much worse.
Far too much hangs on whether Australia is “technically” in a recession. It might be skewing the design of our coronavirus support measures.
Women have suffered much more than men. Many who were employed in March have withdrawn from the labour force and so aren’t counted as unemployed.
The ABS is providing near real-time data like never before. It’s labour force survey remains the most authorative way of tracking the labour market.
Top contributors
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Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Professor of Economics, UNSW Sydney
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Professorial Fellow and Co-Director, HILDA Survey, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Economics, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Economics and Public Policy, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University
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Emeritus Professor, Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney
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Peter Whiteford is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professor of Economics, University of Canberra
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Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University
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Adjunct professor, Flinders University
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Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University
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Research Professor in Social Policy, UNSW Sydney
