Employment

No doubt many of you are still enjoying a long Easter/ANZAC Day break, but for those of you pining for some economic news, here are a few bits of interest that caught my eye this week—starting with my comprehensive essay on Peter Dutton.

Strong labour force data in December have all but ruled out a February rate cut.

As Australia grapples with its post-pandemic recovery, the principal macro challenge remains inflation.

Real wages in Australia have stagnated because the pandemic made us all poorer; a lack of wage growth just reflects that reality. If we push wages further above productivity, we risk disemployment, a wage-price spiral, and even a painful recession.

When COVID-19 struck, the Australian government – along with just about every government around the world – unleashed unprecedented support for workers who were at risk of losing their jobs due to the various health-related restrictions on business activity. One of the talismans of the Scott Morrison/Josh Frydenberg government’s response was JobKeeper, a scheme formulated by Treasury’s Jenny Wilkinson, for which she was later awarded a Public Service Medal.