Employment grows for 10th consecutive month
The number of fully employed persons in Australia grew for the 10th consecutive month, while Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 5.1 percent in June.
Economy
The number of fully employed persons in Australia grew for the 10th consecutive month, while Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 5.1 percent in June.
The unemployment rate is predicted to stay at 5.2 percent, with the number of unemployed people seeking work continuing to decline at the recent trend rate.
The financial services industry has well and truly shrugged off the global financial crisis, with employer confidence at its highest level in close to a decade.
Housing affordability has continued to worsen over the past year, with first home buyers needing on average 4.5 years to save for a house deposit, up from 3.7 years, and many forced to save for over a decade.
Australian employer confidence has increased to its highest levels since July 2008, with employer hiring intentions for the next quarter up 3.4 percent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to hold interest rates at 4.5 percent is welcomed by home owners still struggling after the sharp increases in interest rates earlier this year.
Expectations amongst business owners and executives for the new financial year are lackluster at best, with six key indicators of business strength declining
since the previous quarter.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has decided in it’s monthly board meeting today to leave interest rates on hold at 4.5 percent as it waits on second quarter inflation data from the ABS.
Job ads grew by 2.7 percent in June, following an increase of 2.7 percent in May according to the latest data in the ANZ Job Advertisements Series.
The services sector continues to contract, with a fall in new orders and decreasing selling prices keeping the services sector in negative territory in the June Performance of Services Index.
The Australian job market has stagnated in June after rebounding 5.47 percent in May, according to the latest Advantage Job Index online job ads figures.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson will meet with second-tier mining company executives today to discuss the federal government’s Minerals Resource Rent Tax.
New figures released by the ABS indicate that the number of Australian retail sales rose again in May, marking the industry’s third consecutive monthly gain.
Australia’s Minerals Resource Rent Tax compromise is positive news for big miners but it comes at a price for the wider business community.
With BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata forcing Julia Gillard to bend to their RSPT demands, the Government will halve proposed Company Tax for business.
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata as well as the Australian Workers Union (AWU) are pleased with plans to replace the Resource Super Profits Tax with a Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).
The Resource Super Profits Tax will now be known as the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, in a compromise between Julia Gillard’s, Federal Government and the miners.
Apple growers in Australia are outraged at the potential for Chinese imported apples entering the Australian market over biosecurity fears.
Virgin Blue Chief Executive John Borghetti has signaled his intention to bring V Australia under Virgin Blue’s management and operations structure in a memo to staff yesterday.
More Australians are facing underemployment than unemployment in the wake of the GFC, with women hit the hardest, new ABS statistics have found.