Filling up at the pump has never been so expensive. What drives the price of petrol so high and is there anything we can do about it? The price of crude oil is at multi-year highs and that has a flow-on effect directly to the bowser. In a nutshell, crude oil’s price has been affected… Read more »
While credit card debt has been significantly reduced over the past few years, 28 per cent of credit card users say they wouldn’t be able to manage their finances without one. So, what can you do to manage your credit card better? RBA figures show that Australia’s national credit card debt clocks in at over… Read more »
The Australian economy is doing well despite Delta, but 3 major economic challenges loom: housing affordability, the tax mix, and decarbonisation. This week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published its first Economic Survey of Australia since 2018. It gives Australia good marks for a remarkably good economic response to the COVID pandemic, but… Read more »
Job security? What job security? It’s almost as though the concept has completely disappeared in this COVID age of lockdowns, stand downs and failing companies. It’s not just COVID putting people out of work either. Modern business practices mean companies continue to “resize”, “downsize”, “re-engineer”, or whatever the latest management buzz word is. In the… Read more »
With the prospect of a lengthier lockdown looming over Sydney, the idea of “living with the virus” has resurfaced. But it’s not something supported by most economists. by John Quiggin, The University of Queensland and Richard Holden, UNSW NSW’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, raised the prospect of abandoning the lockdown and accepting that “the virus… Read more »
Despite the Reserve Bank of Australia promising to keep official interest rates on hold until 2024, the rates we pay on some loans are already going up… and are expected to keep going up. In practice, we can already see that interest rates are rising. Australians have been enjoying home loan rates under two per… Read more »
It may not feel like it but, it’s official, the average Australian has never been richer… on paper at least. Before I go through the figures, I should point out that Aussies are asset rich but cash poor. The value of their superannuation and houses have skyrocketed, but not their wages. That’s why you don’t… Read more »
The ABS employment numbers were a shocker in anyone’s book. Employment declined by 227,700 in May, worse than expected, and the unemployment rate was up to a 19 year high of 7.1 per cent… up from 6.4 per cent in April. Unemployment horrible but maybe we’re through the worst Full-time jobs fell by 89,100 and part-time… Read more »
There was a 1.9 per cent fall in the Westpac/Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index for December, released last week. It currently sits at stands at 95.1 points, below the longer term average of 101.5 points. A reading below 100 points denotes pessimism, although economists believe are more apprehensive about how 2020 will unfold than negative.… Read more »
Workers hoping for a pay rise as their Christmas present are unlikely to find anything in their stocking as the Australian government revised down its forecasts for economic and wages growth in its mid-year economic update. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann released the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) – the government’s… Read more »
