The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wage inflation spiking towards crucial 4% threshold

The wage price index released today came in above consensus, printing at 1.0% for the quarter (Q4), seasonally-adjusted, which is a 4.0% annualised rate. The year-on-year rate increased from 3.5% to 3.9%. It seems pretty inevitable wage inflation will quickly breach the 4% barrier that the RBA believes is excessive, especially given Australia's very low productivity growth.

at 11:58 AM