Andy joined Ai Group as an Economist in 2017. He is responsible for analysis and commentary on Australian and international economic developments. Prior to joining Ai Group he worked for the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and for a private economic consulting firm in Brisbane. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and Finance from the University of Queensland.
This blog was originally published in 2019 with data from the 2016-17 financial year. This updated blog post provides an update with data from the 2018-19 financial year. Please see here for original blog post.
The COVID-19 pandemic has directly affected all industries, businesses, and workers in Australia throughout 2020. The Government’s response to the pandemic has highlighted the central role of manufacturing in recovering from this event and its importance in bolstering Australia’s economic…
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The 2020-21 Budget forecasts gross government debt to hit $1 trillion in the next year. In the coming months, we will undoubtedly see numerous stories about the need to get government debt back under control. A large proportion of Australians…
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The National Accounts released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed Australia has entered its first recession in 29 years. But how does Australia’s economic performance compare with other countries?
The OECD recently updated its comparison of global minimum wages for all countries that have a national minimum wage. In 2019, Australia overtook Luxembourg as having the highest minimum wage in the world. In the previous year’s comparison, Australia had…
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recently released its estimates for retail sales in December. Nominal retail sales fell 0.5% over the month after seasonal adjustments. This fall mostly reflects the transfer of pre-Christmas sales from the usual shopping peak…
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Inflation data was recently released for the last quarter of 2019, closing out the most recent decade of price changes. This Data Story illustrates how the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is composed and what goods and services have become more…
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Australians generate a lot of rubbish, as do the people of all advanced economies (and increasingly, the people of less advanced and developing economies). In 2016-17, Australian businesses and households generated 68.9 mega tonnes (Mt) of waste, from a vast…
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Young people in Australia experience higher levels of unemployment than the rest of the population. This is for a variety of reasons including a perceived or real lack of experience and skills, a mismatch between the supply and demand of…
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Australia’s sluggish economic performance in late 2018 has continued into early 2019. In the first quarter of 2019, economic growth slowed to just 1.8% over the year. This is the slowest rate of economic growth since the height of the…
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