News & Discussion: South Australian Economy

[AG]

We're not being paid enough
David Nankervis
07may06
THE gap between the average South Australian wage and those of interstate workers is growing.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show South Australians working full-time earn an average $950 a week – the lowest amount in mainland Australia.

That wage is $241 less than workers in the ACT, who earn the biggest pay packets.

The gap in 1990 was just $89.

Over the same period, the pay difference between NSW workers and those in SA has blown out from $32 to $139 a week, and the pattern is similar in comparisons with all other mainland states and territories.

Adding to the wage growth gap is Adelaide's rate of inflation, which is the highest in the nation.

The wage and inflation figures are a further strain on SA households already struggling with record petrol prices and a .25 per cent interest rate rise announced on Wednesday.

SA Centre for Economic Studies economist Jim Hancock said the ABS figures showed many SA families were under pressure.

"If inflation is growing here quicker than interstate, it means SA householders are doing it harder than those interstate," he said.

This was compounded by slower growth in real wages in Adelaide compared with other capitals.

"We are therefore becoming worse off relative to the rest of the nation," Mr Hancock said.

He said wage growth was tied to economic growth and SA's economy had failed to keep up with other states since 1990.

According to the ABS, Adelaide has recorded a total inflation rate of 56 per cent over the past 16 years.

This was 10 per cent more than Darwin, the capital with the lowest rate.

The figures show the cost of beef, bread, beer, milk, electricity and education have grown at a greater rate than any other capital since 1990.

Consumers SA secretary Tony Moore said the figures "show families are doing it harder now and the cost-of-living advantages are being eroded".

"And the real worry is this long-term inflation trend shows no sign of easing or the situation getting better," he said.

Mr Moore blamed privatisation for Adelaide's high inflation rate.

"Look at electricity – deregulation was supposed to deliver savings," he said.

"But instead prices rocketed and that has to feed through to the cost of production for other goods," he said.

Deregulation of industries such as the dairy trade had also caused problems and "with petrol prices increasing, transporting milk and other goods from interstate is only going to become more expensive".

According to the ABS, Adelaide's electricity prices have almost doubled since 1990.

They have risen only 57 per cent in Melbourne and just 25 per cent in Perth and Darwin. Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said the burden of soaring electricity prices had been carried almost exclusively by householders as power deregulation in 2002 had provided some savings for industry.

"But with householders paying the price of higher energy costs, that means they have less disposable income to spend," he said.

Welfare agency Uniting Care Wesley said the increasing number of people seeking financial help reflected the tough times householders were experiencing.

"It seems we have been let down by the economic boffins who argued privatisation was the answer," spokesman Mark Henley said.

"The squeeze on household budgets has been growing and we are seeing more and more people coming to us for help."

[Will]

This is a major problem facing the state. It is caused by the state's brain drain which is seeing university graduates, executives and succesful people leaving the state. In contrast the majority of people coming into the state are working class factory workers or refugees.

This in my opinion is the state's major problem, and I really want all tiers of government to do more and come up with innovative solutions to make SA a destination again.

[Ben]

rticle From ACC Website:

For the second consecutive quarter of 2007, the value of applications lodged for developments in Adelaide has reached record levels, further confirming the City is in the middle of a building and development boom.



282 new development applications – with a total value of $258.6 million – were lodged with the Adelaide City Council during this year’s June quarter, taking the value of applications lodged since the start of 2007 to $461 million.



And, the value of development applications approved by the Council during the June quarter was also the highest on record - 285 applications with a total value of $222.2 million.



Lord Mayor Michael Harbison says the City is experiencing boom times.



“The facts speak for themselves. Not only have development applications and approvals reached record levels, but the number of people living, working and studying in the City continues to rapidly grow,” he says.



“The Council is well on track to achieve our Strategic Management Plan targets of at least 111,000 people working, and at least 66,000 people studying in the City by 2010.”



“And the building boom has added tens of thousands of square metres of office space to the City, including nation-leading examples of green-rated environmentally sustainable developments, such as the new SANTOS House in Flinders Street, and ANZ House in Waymouth Street.”



Included in the list of development applications lodged during the June quarter is the University of Adelaide’s $48.9 million proposal for a new Engineering building at its North Terrace campus, and the $65 million plan for a residential and hotel development on the Academy Cinema site in Hindmarsh Square.



Among the applications approved by Council during the June quarter are a $111.8 million plan for three new commercial buildings in Angas Street, and a new $35 million office building on the Telstra exchange building site in Franklin Street.

[ynotsfables]

What happened to the recession that the ANZ bank said we are going to experience yesterday, and the drop in population thats meant to go with it.

[skyliner]

You don't really want that to happen do you? It is a fact however that every place is subject to economoc cycles. Adelelaide has had it's down cylce during the 1990's.

Boom times are boom times - it is with care that an avoidance of causative factors is addressed. Every economic digest, mine report building construction and political outlook says good news for Adelaide. Forget the ANZ.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CBD SKYLINE

[skyliner]

Back again.

I note that ANZ made a poor show of it on the share market today - said to be in response to the U.S. market which has become shakey due to over investment. This has been in the realm of home loans linked to rising interest rates and resultant foreclosures on many of said loans. This seems to be affecting RAMS as well in Australia. (gives access to loans when many others wont). Corrections to the share market are now the acceptable way of calling a halt to share runs in a negative direction. Corrections occur to avert recessions and are direct deliberate interventions in the stock market. I would be relatively surprised to hear of an actual collapse in the share market here due to the condition of our economy at present.

I note that Adelaide has been particuklarly susceptible to economic downturns in the past - but much of this has been due to a small narrow econmic base. Now S.A. has three main ecominic bases - mines, agriculture and industry.

City developers would have a good knowledge of all the above and would mostly invest if thought safe to do so. Speculative development involves going a step further and not taking much account of risk.

Hence what is happening in Adelaide now in development draws my notice more than the ANZ.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CBD SKYLINE.

[rhino]

I note that Adelaide has been particuklarly susceptible to economic downturns in the past - but much of this has been due to a small narrow econmic base. Now S.A. has three main ecominic bases - mines, agriculture and industry.

According to an article in The Advertiser earlier this week, you can now add Science to that list. Apparently there is more money coming into South Australia through scientific research and the science industry than any other state.

[Will]

I note that Adelaide has been particuklarly susceptible to economic downturns in the past - but much of this has been due to a small narrow econmic base. Now S.A. has three main ecominic bases - mines, agriculture and industry.

According to an article in The Advertiser earlier this week, you can now add Science to that list. Apparently there is more money coming into South Australia through scientific research and the science industry than any other state.

Yes that is true. I am currently doing a placement in a scientific research laboratory, and the consensus is that SA has some of the best scientists and some of the most cutting edge research being undertaken in Australia is being conducted here in South Australia. This is why there are quite a few students from overseas coming here to do their honours, masters of PhD research.

[stelaras]

Will and Rhino Im not sure that you are entirely accurate there!

The research and development sector in terms of dollars given in funding and dollars that are injected back into the states is only small change compared to the other sectors, However SA lags well behind in all these areas

I did my Bachelors training in Adelaide (1995) and was awarded my Honours in surgery (1999) and PhD in Medicine from the university of Adelaide in 2003. I left Adelaide in April 03 to continue my work in Melb, essentially because there was/is little money around for medical research in SA. I can tell you that just from the University of Adelaide/RAH/IMVS and HCCR (all affiliated to the university of adelaide) at least 7 heads of labs with pioneering research in a number of fields have left Adelaide, the most notable of those and in my opinion future Nobel laureat Prof. Peter Rathjen.

I will highlight some information from the NHMRC of Australia in terms of Research dollars awarded to SA as well as a cost breakdown of which state does better on this front: The data presented cover the years 2000-2007 and accounts for all money awarded in Research (not just medical)

The NHMRC is the premier funding body for the commonwealth of Australia and the figures quoted can be got from its website: http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/

NHMRC funding by state

gntdata.jpg (217.51 KiB) Viewed 21389 times

So if you cant be bothered doing the sums here are the ranks for SA

YR 2000: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA
YR 2001: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA
YR 2002: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA
YR 2003: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA (just over 1m difference between 4th and 5th)
YR 2004: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA
YR 2005: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA
Yr 2006: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th SA, 5th WA (a fraction over 100K difference between 4th and 5th)
Yr 2007: 1st VIC, 2nd NSW, 3rd QLD, 4th WA, 5th SA (1.2M difference between 4th and 5th)

If we break this down in terms of actual dollars between 1st place (VIC) and SA we can see that SA is very very far behind in that for every 1 dollar SA gets, VIC gets 5.1 dollars more (for 2007). This is vastly different to the year 2000 where for every dollar SA got, VIC received 3.66 dollars more. So infact SA is doing proprotionally worse!

So SA ranks mostly in 4th place, last year it slipped to fifth and from all accounts it will be in 5th spot for 2008 (i sit on the GRP panels where these decisions are made)

The reason why SA gets so much less has nothing to do with the quality of research or quantity of research. It is about marketability and the fact that states like VIC, NSW and QLD can recoup a lot of that money back from marketing its inventions.

[skyliner]

Stelaris my learned friend, the final sentence really brings in the perspective and paints a more favorable picture of our beloved state/capital. I see the future as something more favorable in all areas as flow on effects in investment etc kick in. You only have to think of the 1990's (shudder) to see this as actually happening now. VERY interesting statistics however - thanks for the research effort.

ADELAIDE - A GREAT PLACE TO BE

[stelaras]

thanks for the research effort.

No effort at all. These stats are available for all to see! You just gotta know where to find them!

[Will]

It is no surprise that Victoria gets more research money than SA. However with that in mind I think that it is important to state that important and significant research is being conducted in SA.

[Cruise]

id be interested in knowing funding per capita

[Bulldozer]

Stelaras, scientific research isn't limited to just medical research.

Anyway, I bet that quite a chunk of the research dollars are defence related.

[stelaras]

It is no surprise that Victoria gets more research money than SA. However with that in mind I think that it is important to state that important and significant research is being conducted in SA.

If you read what i wrote carefully you will note that i didnt bag Adelaide's research qulaity or quantity! infact a lot of good works starts in SA but is then lost to the bigger states and eventually gets lost to large US based multi-nationals.

I provided an explanation into why SA gets proportionally less than the other 3 big states and it comes down to research conducted relative to opportunity. Unfortunately SA is not very good at marketing its research and thus does not recoup as much back as the other states, therefore the governement gives out less money.