Unemployment
In 2008, one of the biggest financial disasters in history took place. When investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, the global financial crisis announced its unwanted presence to the world. Four years later, the European debt crisis has again left the global financial system teetering on the edge of the abyss.
Make no mistake. This is the Cuban Missile Crisis of economics. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, has warned of a 1930s style Great Depression. Former prime minister Paul Keating has called it the “worst crisis of his lifetime.” Legendary speculator George Soros, in a chilling interview with Newsweek, had this to say:
“We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”
Continue reading "What happens to us if we collide with GFC 2.0?" »
When I think of regional Australia, I think of long drives, lots of wildlife and lights in the sky not on the ground. There is another thing that now distinguishes regional Australia: an absolute rejection of the carbon tax.
Senator John Williams recently conducted a poll in the seats of New England (based around Tamworth) and Lyne (based around Port Macquarie). After receiving over 9,400 responses, 89 per cent of residents are against the carbon tax.
The reason for this is not that hard to fathom. When it comes to the carbon tax, the greater the distance, the greater the cost.
Continue reading "An unaffordable tax beyond all regional doubt" »
Latest 2 of 83 comments
View all comments-
Honesty says:
“There will be no carbon tax under my government…..it’s time to start putting a price on carbon”....In the past five years, I have seen to most amazing things happen in Australia. Hundreds of millions of our taxes going on placating economic refugees who con their way here and refuse to… Read more »
-
vince schubert says:
89% of respondents. Would that be of the angry Coalition supporters who have been stirred up by TA ? That might mean really that 11% of Coalition supporters do NOT support it. arr.. stastistics aye… Read more »
We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Australia is still in a “different” economic league to the rest of the world and there are five rocks underpinning those solid foundations.
The global financial turmoil is definitely a worry. Many are saying it’s based on fear… and they’d be right.
But it is also based on reality. Some of the economic numbers coming out of the US and Europe are seriously bad. So bad that the global market reaction has been justified.
Continue reading "Aussie economy kicking goals, a league above the rest" »
Latest 2 of 120 comments
View all comments-
Gregg says:
@AnnaC, Have you looked at what comparable company taxes are in other countries that our resources industries compete with. Heftier taxation is just a short term cash grab and the longer term result would be that China or whomever will go to where they get resources cheapest at any time… Read more »
-
St. Michael says:
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the classic Leftist line that triggered the Great Depression. See, just as the Depression hit, under Herbert Hoover the US got concerned about foreigners owning too much of their land and the fact the local industries were getting pummelled by competition from overseas. Hoover… Read more »
Feel like your life lacks dignity, meaning and social inclusion?
The solution is easy. Simply take one full-time job and do it. All your problems – especially those stubborn, low self-esteem issues – will be solved in one fell swoop.
This is the rhetoric accompanying new, “tough love” Budget measures aimed at shifting single mothers and disability pensioners off welfare and into work.
Latest 2 of 71 comments
View all comments-
Jade (the other one) says:
Funny, most of the successful artists, singers, musicians etc I have heard of got there through doing it on the side while working regular jobs like the rest of us. I know of very few who were unemployed while building a career. Read more »
-
Jade (the other one) says:
@Watcher, I don’t know what things are like where you are, but in my area, the support given to teenage mothers to be allowed to finish school and raise their children is immense, even to the detriment of the other students in their classes. For instance, at one school, the… Read more »
There’s a certain irony that a Government proud of an unemployment rate with a “four in front of it’’ is obsessed with work in this Budget.
“If you ask me what it’s about, it’s really about jobs, job, jobs,’’ Mr Swan told The Punch this week.
Such sentiments would have been unremarkable from treasurers past as they wrestled with deep recessions and accompanying jobless numbers in the double figures.
Continue reading "Budget 2011: It’s all about the jobs, jobs, jobs" »
Latest 2 of 88 comments
View all comments-
acotrel says:
@Rosie ‘At least Tony Abbott had a 3 word slogan “stop the boats” which we understood to be part of his policy.’ I just love the way you assume Abbot has a policy! Do you also believe in fairies? Read more »
-
Darragh Scully says:
Well going by the recent statistics ‘ie the vote’, the referendum is Highly Likely to succeed. According to the BBC, if a Yes vote wins and presented to Whitehall then they are more or less obligated to negotiate a settlement with Scotland becoming a Soverign State. That Data in said… Read more »
“GET a job!” It was the response to a protester from Prime Minister Paul Keating during his ill-fated 1996 election campaign that epitomised the “dole bludger” tag.
The nation’s unemployment rate had spiked during his previous term and many school leavers were seen as aimless, finding it easier to rely on government welfare than to look for paid work.
More than a decade on, the jobless figures have done an about-turn. In some areas there are more jobs than willing workers. But it seems the legendary dole bludger is alive and well.
Continue reading "Yep, most people still really hate dole bludgers" »
Latest 2 of 84 comments
View all comments-
Bowhunter says:
As far as I’m concerned welfare is my compensation for having to live in a capitalist society, and for having to put up with fools like Jade! Take welfare away and I’ll just kill the rich and take what they have. Read more »
-
Michael says:
Heres a great example of the kinda jobs people expect long term unemployed people to go out there and get and the requirements a recruitment company expects from them: Nightfill - have experience in a night fill or as a packer in a food environment. To be successful in your… Read more »
There’s no way taxpayers should be supporting fit young people to lounge around for years on the dole, smoking joints and listening to Pink Floyd.
And no one wants their hard-earned being spent on a wannabe writer who houseshares with other ‘creatives’ living the dream while we eke out a meagre office-bound existence, soothed only by Friday night drinks and dreams of what might have been.
And we’ll be damned if we pay tax after levy after carbon price while someone who has ‘self esteem’ issues can’t get out of bed before lunch.
Continue reading "Abbott’s new era of work for the proles" »
Latest 2 of 281 comments
View all comments-
Cynic says:
whats really ironic is that it was the Liberals who gave the youngsters a ‘youth allowance’ thereby making welfare seem normal, is it any wonder that they then go on the dole? Abbott also needs to understand disabilities a little better, a lot of people on disability pensions would love… Read more »
-
john says:
You know “Conviction Kitchen” is a TV program ? It’s not real you know… ALL employees of licensed venues must pass a police check BY LAW. Please stop talking out of your backside. Read more »
Ask any poor wage slave trapped in rush hour traffic or crammed like a sardine into a sweltering carriage on their hour-long daily commute and my guess is you’ll find no shortage of strong opinions on Australia’s less than terrific track record in urban planning.
As our major cities have grown in population over recent decades the unimaginative response of state governments has largely been to drive new housing towards our metropolitan fringes.
But as many of us experience daily, on the whole they’ve done so without putting in place the economic and social infrastructure to accommodate such expansion – public transport, training and employment opportunities and access to essential community services such as childcare.
Continue reading "Traffic jams? No jobs? Ghettoes? Blame poor planning" »
Latest 2 of 39 comments
View all comments-
SM says:
@Yak corner shops disappearing? come to Sydney sometime - 2 on every corner Read more »
-
James1 says:
Yak, In terms of convenience and services, I meant more that we have things like hospitals with expensive, modern equipment, we have specialists of every type imaginable and never have to travel for medical attention, no matter how specialised, and we get to choose the schools we send our kids… Read more »
There is a lot of merit to Tony Abbot’s proposal to tighten the compliance rules on Youth Allowance and Newstart Allowance recipients aged under 30 that would requiring them to work in areas experiencing labour shortages.
The public is generally unaware there is a thorough suitability test on the activities offered to jobseekers on income support. One of the components of the suitability tests involves a travel time rule.
The travel time rule says jobseekers that have the capacity for full time work do not have to take up employment or training if the travel time is more than 90 minutes. As a result, there are no requirements to move to areas experiencing labour shortages.
Continue reading "Abbott’s dole plan can work, here’s how" »
Latest 2 of 94 comments
View all comments-
Casey says:
I propose that employers should be flexible. They expect job seekers and people already employed to be flexible. How about businesses for a change. Oh I forgot that is what casual work is all about!. Read more »
-
Casey says:
Yes and I’m sure your one these people who own a small business.Earn around $35,000 a year or more and are driving around in a toorak tractor and are somehow able to claim for a health care card. Because your accountant is able to find the loopholes and work the… Read more »
As Prime Minister Rudd was dancing around morning television selling his health deal with the states, Opposition leader Tony Abbott remerged from wherever he’s been hiding to lob a little policy smoke bomb.
According to The Australian today, Mr Abbott told a meeting with senior resource industry executives in Perth, he would like to see dole payments stopped to able bodied people under 30, in a bid to fill skill shortages in Western Australia and other mining areas crying out for labour.
The proposal has not been endorsed as party policy, but it does signal the direction the Liberal leader may take in debates about skill shortages and welfare during the election campaign.
Continue reading "Bludger politics: the Paxtons don’t live here anymore" »
Latest 2 of 172 comments
View all comments-
Labour Studies says:
Not that I disagree with you but check the ABS stat’s - aggregate unemployment in Australia is currently at 5.3% - 5.2% for men and 5.5% for women Read more »
-
Stephen says:
Mayday, I don’t necessarily disagree with what you are saying, when I see the amount of people smoking their lives away on pot and god knows what, I have to wonder what could be done, but I fear that denying benefits for them to get their hold on such things… Read more »
Thanks to the way Tony Abbott announced his maternity leave plan, thought bubbles seem to be in vogue this week so here’s one for a breezy Friday brainstorm.
Mandatory clown suits for social welfare recipients. What do you think?
The key benefit, as argued by the person who thought of it first, is that people on welfare will be making the country happier as everyone likes looking at clowns. (Stay with me.)
Continue reading "Clown suits for dole bludgers – could it work here?" »
Latest 2 of 76 comments
View all comments-
John says:
I totally agree, The only clown here is the person who wrote this article. I am partly unemployed but work with the disabled and radio staion all week when not doing casual paid work. We have to provide our own time and money (petrol etc.) to help our clients. What… Read more »
-
Feathers says:
Sounds good to me. Maybe just a couple of changes but overall terrific. Add NO carbon tax. NO upping electricity bills. Clear cut, no BS. I LIKE IT. Read more »
At first blush today’s employment figures are an early Christmas present for the federal government. Some 30,000 jobs were created in November and the unemployment rate, against expectations, crept downwards by the tiniest of notches.
But there won’t be any champagne popping in the Cabinet room. There’s a worrying trend beneath the figures: the mining states, which you’d assume are leading Australia’s unexpected economic performance, are actually shedding jobs. It’s the states in the southeast - previously the laggards - where the jobs are being created.
So [the run-up] to Christmas Eve will be a nervous one for Kevin Rudd. Santa could be preparing a big sack of trouble to chuck down his chimney in the form of the national accounts which come out on December 24 16 and should give a clearer indication of any weak spots in the economy.
Continue reading "The one Christmas present Kevin Rudd doesn’t need" »
Latest 2 of 26 comments
View all comments-
Public Record says:
Oops… in SA, employment in Nov was effectively flat, despite a small rise in full-time employment (seasonally adjusted). Tired, me. Read more »
-
Brent says:
If Australia is the smart country how come it hasn’t realised that the ets and ‘environmental’ issues are all a big rudd distraction from the fact rudd hasn’t made a dent in health, education, state mess ups and economic development. Read more »
This cannot be happening, I thought as I filled in Centrelink’s Newstart application form.
How could I have sunk this low?
I’m well educated, resourceful and have been a language teacher, conveyancer, legal secretary and newspaper journalist.
Latest 2 of 33 comments
View all comments-
Claire Struthers says:
Claire here - thanks very much to all who commented for your sympathy, which really touched me, and your constructive comments. I certainly don’t expect to be subsidised by the taxpayer - I’d far rather be a productive member of society, as I had been since I left university. So… Read more »
-
cats says:
wtf, are you 12 years old? Rudd has nothing to do with the unemployment rate, which btw is not the worst we’ve had. Its the small businesses that are losing money as the spending curbs, and they have had to cut back on employees. And its the big businesses that… Read more »
Julia Gillard’s week got a lot better just before lunch time yesterday with the announcement the latest jobs figures had held steady.
The general consensus was the data saved her from the hammering she’s been getting in Question Time over the dodgy mess the administration of the Building the Education Revolution plan has turned out to be.
And yes our jobless figures look pretty flash compared with the rest of the world. But the Government shouldn’t be jumping up and down just yet - and to her credit Gillard resisted the urge.
Continue reading "As good news goes, the jobs figures were luke warm" »
Latest 2 of 14 comments
View all comments-
Richard of brissy says:
Guys Guys Guys, all this natter. Bottom line there was a POT OF MONEY left by the Libs and the Labour party + union party spent Millions to get elected and get their noses in the trough. Now they are just distributing the money to all their friends and when… Read more »
-
John A Neve says:
In response to Jim @ 1331hrs. You are right we do not know what the coalition would have done in the same situation. But neither do you! Based on all I’ve read, Malcolm would have done much the same, but to a lesser degree. The reality, is most Australians voted… Read more »
Here’s a quiz for your readers. How many green jobs did Kevin Rudd announce at the Labor Party Conference and how many of them were new?
Many readers of the Punch could be forgiven for thinking they heard the Prime Minister promise to deliver 50 000 new green jobs.
Unfortunately like so many of the Government’s announcements about a large array of job creation and training programmes it pays to read the fine print.
Continue reading "Labor’s green jobs promise is a huge lie" »
Latest 2 of 5 comments
View all comments-
Okoro says:
[...] flnoowilg the President’s visit, the United States will establish a Marine Air-Ground Task Force at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks, [...] Read more »
-
johnv_au says:
This is called in political circles spin we will create jobs fix the hospital system its what we in the real world do when the wife askes to fix some thing around the house we say yes dear but have no intentions of doing it Or we will patch it… Read more »
Hot news. I’ve just received a press release from the PGA of Australia which says that golf participation rates increased by a whopping 27 per cent in 2008.
And the reason we’re all flocking to the first tee in unprecedented numbers? Well, apparently it’s because we’re unemployed and have nothing better to do.
Seriously. Here, word for word, is the PGA of Australia CEO Max Garske’s breathtaking spin on the sudden surge.
“Typically the biggest concern for golfers is not finding enough time to play a few holes on a regular basis. But the current economic situation has created more leisure time for many Australians.”
Continue reading "Unemployed? Time to brush up on your putting skills" »
Latest 2 of 4 comments
View all comments-
Steve says:
“So instead of gloating about rising numbers to trumpet their own marvellousness, the PGA of Australia should come clean and provide a full demographic breakdown of just who is playing, and when, and why.” Yes and while we are at it let’s see who is leaving the TV on standby-… Read more »
-
Az says:
“has created more leisure time for Australians”, huh? I imagine Mr Gaske drives a nice car, has a nice big house and a nice big job with a nice big paycheck. I’ll bet he doesn’t know anyone who lost their job without a nice big payout or a nice big… Read more »
More data today suggest the national economy is in a holding pattern. More than 21,000 people found themselves out of work in June, a rise of just 0.1 of a percentage point in the national unemployment figure.
The Reserve Bank cut interest rates to 3 per cent in April and hasn’t budged them since. And this week the Fair Pay Commission, in defiance of the government and unions, effectively gave low-income earners a pay cut when it froze the minimum wage. The commission argued that it would cost jobs and, as Clive Mathieson pointed out this week, jobless people can’t help the economy as they have zero money to spend.
These consumer sentiment figures show that significantly more Australians are feeling upbeat rather than gloomy about the economy. This is despite a range of forecasts - from banks and the federal government - predicting significant job losses over the coming year.
The unemployment figure today was 5.8 per cent. The crystal ball-gazers say it’s heading for around 8 per cent. Clive also pointed out recently that economists’ predictions are often useless and change tack with the economic winds.
There may yet be some nasty surprises as cuts in business budgets for the new financial year, which started just eight days ago, start to bite. Today, though, I’d like to ask where you think the economy is heading over the next six months. Are we out of the woods yet?
Latest 2 of 16 comments
View all comments-
David C says:
I think you will find US GDP is nearly twice as large as China (14.3 trio against 7.8). In fact US GDP is about the same size as China, Japan and India combined. China is growing now primarily due to government stimulus, this won’t last forever. Read more »
-
Paul G says:
@Overflow on China. China is an export economy, however, the majority of its GDP (around 70% and growing) is now internally generated by internal demand. China has hit a point where it no longer needs to rely on Exports to the US to sustain growth - growth can be obtained… Read more »
The battle lines in national politics have now been drawn along a fault line summed up by two four-letter words: debt and jobs.
In the one corner we have the Rudd Government, justifying an audacious program of pump-priming in order to protect jobs; in the other we have the Opposition, telling us it’s all about debt.
The key to understanding the jobs versus debt debate is that this is not an argument about economics – it is a battle to manage the national agenda.
Continue reading "Debt versus jobs: battle lines drawn for next election" »
Latest 2 of 6 comments
View all comments-
Bob says:
There is no doubt that the next election will be the most viscious election ever held in this country. The liberals are already engaged in a “Fear” campaign that can only become more and more extreme as their desperation level increases. The difference between “Fear” and “Terror” is degree, a… Read more »
-
Paul says:
I think that there will be a DD election before Copenhagen. Consider the state elections next year: SA, Tas & Vic Read more »
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
ICB: If I could offer you only one tip for the future…
Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit, an irregular regular column on calumny and codswallop.…
Six prominent Aussies with a case of the dreaded “yips”
The yips. It’s an old golf term which refers to golfers who lose the ability to putt. They stand…
The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou
In I Spit On Your Grave, a young woman is gang raped in a remote woodland. She is beaten and tortured…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
Latest 2 of 153 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment