Australian manufacturing has staged a small but extremely welcome comeback in 2016, after suffering a sustained period of shrinkage since our most recent peak in 2008. This partial recovery has been evident across a number of key industry-wide metrics: Ai…
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The Queensland economy entered a period of milder growth in 2016, no longer buoyed by the mining investment ‘super cycle’ which included the construction of large-scale mining and LNG facilities across the State. In 2016, residential construction acted as a…
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In my last blog on manufacturing employment (November 2016), I reported that Australian manufacturing was experiencing a limited but very welcome jobs recovery in the first half 2016. This was in line with the results of Ai Group’s Australian PMI®,…
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In the third and final instalment of our Blog series on energy cost increases, Tennant Reed investigates the options available to government and industry in responding to the escalating costs of electricity and gas. Businesses and household across eastern and…
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In the second instalment of our three-part Blog series on energy cost increases, Tennant Reed investigates the causes of recent price hikes in both electricity and gas. Businesses and households across eastern and southern Australia are starting to see a…
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Businesses and households across eastern and southern Australia are starting to see a new wave of energy cost increases. These will be painful for many, and a serious blow to the competitiveness of some trade-exposed industries. Many want to know:…
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The issue of 457 visas for temporary skilled workers has been in the media spotlight again over the past week, with both major parties signalling an intent to reform the system. Here, to combat misinformation and to place the debate into its…
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Manufacturing is often thought to be in permanent decline in Australia. In 2016, however, the reality has been very different to this myth and, for some manufacturing businesses and employees, a far more positive story. Indeed, as of August 2016,…
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Tomorrow’s labour force estimates from the ABS (for the month of September) are likely to show yet another record high for the proportion of people working part-time. As of August, 31.7% of all employed people worked part-time (that is, they…
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After ten years of negotiations, Australia signed a high-profile free trade agreement (FTA) last year with China. Coming into force on 20 December 2015, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) promised to unlock significant opportunities for Australia in China, which is our…
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