The Economic News Thread

[AtD]

I like graphs. Note how Adelaide unit approvals ticked up in January - would be interesting to see if this is a new trend or just a blip.

Monthly building approvals (Not seasonally adjusted)

Houses:


Units:


Total dwellings:


Src

[Omicron]

Why have they changed all the colours from graph to graph? Hiss!

We were really firing on all cylinders in mid '08. Pity about that pesky financial crisis, isn't it?

[Prince George]

Interesting that Melbourne's figures are so much higher than any other city across the entire period. I'd love to see some sort of housing affordability graph across that same period, and see if that correlates at all. Probably want a population change graph as well ...

[AG]

Interesting that Melbourne's figures are so much higher than any other city across the entire period. I'd love to see some sort of housing affordability graph across that same period, and see if that correlates at all. Probably want a population change graph as well ...

The latter would make sense, as Melbourne is currently the fastest growing urban area by absolute numbers in Australia.

[yousername]

Good that Adelaide is either 3rd or equal 4th in each graph

[rhino]

State of Australian Cities report compares Adelaide with Oslo and Prague
Mark Kenny, Political Editor From: AdelaideNow March 05, 2010 10:04AM

SYDNEY compares with Moscow and Madrid, Melbourne lines up with Barcelona and Shanghai, but Adelaide's economic peers are old European - Oslo and Prague.
This comparison of cities with similar-sized economies is part of a new snapshot of Australian cities conducted by the Federal Government's Major Cities Unit.
Called "The State of Australian Cities, 2010", the inaugural study looks at the declining infrastructure, over-crowding, and flagging economic output of our major urban centres as roads and rail become over-crowded and quality of life falls as a result.
But while Australia is a big country, famous internationally for its open spaces, its cities remain the major drawcard for overseas travellers.
"The major cities in the year to June 2009 generated expenditure from overseas visitors of $15 billion out of the total overseas visitor contribution of $17 billion," the report found.
Adelaide quality of lifeHas Adelaide's quality of life improved or decreased over the past five years? Improved Decreased Stayed the same Vote now
"Our cities are centres of national economic, social and cultural activity, but they will need to respond to long-term challenges to maintain the quality of life enjoyed by our communities and secure the nation's productivity in a more sustainable way."
The report shows Adelaide lags behind many other major cities in terms of economic efficiency.
However, all of Australia's major cities went backwards in recent years on the international index of liveability.
Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese will release the report today in Brisbane.
According to his speech notes, a Mercer Group annual worldwide Quality of Living survey of 235 countries shows that in the five years to 2009, Sydney dropped in the quality-of-living ranking from 5th to 10th place.
Melbourne went from 12th to 18th and Adelaide also dropped down the list from 24th to 30th.
Brisbane too suffered a big fall, going from 24th to 34th place.
However Perth, perhaps reflecting its strong budgetary position as a resource based economy, dropped only marginally from 20th to 21st place.

[AtD]

As I said somewhere else here (can't remember where!) unemployment for February comes out today. SA lost about 5,000 jobs but gained 4,000 full time jobs, meaning an increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 4.7 vs the national average of 5.3.

Code: Select all

AUS: 5.3
========
NSW: 5.4
VIC: 5.3
QLD: 5.7
SA:  4.7
WA:  5.0
TAS: 6.4
NT:  3.2
ACT: 3.9

http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/ ... enDocument

[Prince George]

State of Australian Cities report compares Adelaide with Oslo and Prague
Mark Kenny, Political Editor From: AdelaideNow March 05, 2010 10:04AM

SYDNEY compares with Moscow and Madrid, Melbourne lines up with Barcelona and Shanghai, but Adelaide's economic peers are old European - Oslo and Prague. This comparison of cities with similar-sized economies is part of a new snapshot of Australian cities conducted by the Federal Government's Major Cities Unit.

I've been giving that report a read-over, and when Mr Kenny says "part of a new snapshot", he really means "a fleeting mention, not even a full sentence, in a 161 page document". And the comparison was not drawn by the authors of the report, they are in fact quoting from a 2007 report by PricewaterhouseCooper comparing the economies of 150 cities around the world; and the comparison is that Adelaide's economy is about the same place on their list as Oslo or Prague. Way to pluck a headline totally out of context, Advertiser.

(Oh, and Mark, in case you don't know, Moscow, Madrid, and Barcelona are all old European cities. Barcelona even has its own creation myth along the lines of Rome's "Aenid". I guess we're in good company, then.)

All up, it's an interesting collection of comparisons from around the world, data from around our cities, and forecasts for future trends. What I found particularly intriguing was that the report came from part of Infrastructure Australia; I get the feeling that this report reflects a more ambitious and progressive agenda than the actual policy coming from their parent organisation

http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov. ... U_SOAC.pdf

[yousername]

Resurgent South Australian economy is nation's third fastest growing state
Cara Jenkin, CareerOne Editor From: The Advertiser April 18, 2010 9:23pm 24 comments

SOUTH Australia's economy has been called the "Jewel in the Pacific" after it surged to the third best in the nation, boosted by the strongest population growth in 36 years and low unemployment, a report states.

The State of the States economic rankings report, conducted quarterly by financial services business CommSec, shows SA was the only state to improve its position since January, moving from fourth to third position.

The Australian Capital Territory retained its position as Australia's best performing economy, while Western Australia slipped from equal first to second.The report said the state's trend unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent in March, well below the decade average unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent, showed the SA job market was performing "far better" than other states.

The state's population growth of 1.3 per cent was the highest of any state or territory in the quarter and the fastest the state had experienced in 36 years.

RESULTS: DO YOU FEEL SA IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK?
Thanks for voting!

Do you feel the SA economy is on the right track?
Yes - everything is falling into place
42.22% (19 votes)
No - there's heaps to be done
57.78% (26 votes)
Total votes: 45

Construction work also increased by a record 35 per cent in trend terms in 2009 and was 70 per cent above the decade average.

Recruiter Hays regional director Lisa Morris backed the report's findings, saying a number of projects which stimulated employment had forged ahead since the state election, which had stalled some projects.

She said the rate at which companies were employing staff was not as high as the eastern states, but there were less workers leaving their jobs in SA.

"South Australian businesses are doing their part and not holding back," she said.

Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said the result was not a flash in the pan and had been building for many months.

"We fly under the radar. We've done really well for quite a while now," he said.

He said mining, defence and local expertise in industries such as aquaculture and computer graphics could make South Australia's economy the "jewel in the Pacific region" in the next 50 years.

"It's well within our capabilities - we have the wonderful opportunities, land available, resources, the determination of our people and we need more people to fulfil our prophecy," he said.

[Straze]

South Australian cards economy earns good report

THE state's economy has built important momentum and is set to hold its own over the next two years, two economic reports say.

Access Economics says South Australia is relatively well-positioned to ride the recovery despite its high exposure to manufacturing and farm-related risks.

The second report, on business confidence by PricewaterhouseCoopers, says while average profit growth and sales growth have dropped in the past 12 months, 56 per cent of SA businesses met or exceeded targets in March.

It says population gains are the best since the early-1970s and unemployment rates are near a record low.

PWC partner Michael Browne says SA private businesses have been performing strongly over a considerable period which gives the potentially false impression that growth is slowing in SA.

"SA is in good shape," he said. "It has come back to the pack after a strong period of sustained growth and consolidation."

One of the warning notes in the Access report is that SA cannot rely on manufacturing as a growth driver into the medium term.

"That means much rests on SA's ability to re-invent itself from a major manufacturing base to a resource region," the report says.

"In turn, that means much rests on the potential for the enormous expansion of Olympic Dam to go ahead sooner rather than later."

The report also says that while housing starts in SA fell during 2008-09, they have been gathering pace in 2009-10. "There is just enough pent-up demand from lack of building of late to ensure housing activity has a healthier year or two ahead of it," it says.

The report says engineering work had lifted strongly in recent years and solid starts boded well for the pace of activity in 2010-11.

"Much interest over the medium term focuses on the prospect of SA becoming rather more of a mining state and, implicitly, less of a manufacturing one," Access says.

Treasurer Kevin Foley said the report showed the state's above-average growth over the past two financial years had not come about by accident, but thanks to the investment the Government had made to broaden the economic base in areas such as defence, renewables and mining.

Article from Adelaidenow Website: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au

[AtD]

South Australian cards economy earns good report

Wat?

[Wayno]

I'm disappointed with the Fed's response to the Henry Tax Review. A few measly changes, simply tinkering around the edges.

The one BIG news item of course is the 40% Mining Resource Rent Tax - but i'm not yet sure if it will materially help or hamper the industry, and what impact it will have on our own backyard, especially ODX.

[monotonehell]

I'm disappointed with the Fed's response to the Henry Tax Review. A few measly changes, simply tinkering around the edges...

I was reading about it this morning (just quickly with my morning wake up juice). A lot of responses like yours, but also buried in the depths of the third page of the articles about it was the fact that most of the measures haven't been made public yet. So apparently there's a lot more to come?

I'm also a bit concerned with how the mining tax will affect our royalties.

[Will]

I'm disappointed with the Fed's response to the Henry Tax Review. A few measly changes, simply tinkering around the edges...

I was reading about it this morning (just quickly with my morning wake up juice). A lot of responses like yours, but also buried in the depths of the third page of the articles about it was the fact that most of the measures haven't been made public yet. So apparently there's a lot more to come?

I'm also a bit concerned with how the mining tax will affect our royalties.

No need to worry about the state-based royalties. They will remain.

[monotonehell]

No need to worry about the state-based royalties. They will remain.

You're not thinking fourth dimensionally. Of course the levy will remain, but will the business? - in light of the 40% tax on profits?