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."

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

AFR column: Is the labour market really weak?

You can read my AFR column on Australia's labour market debate here. Three key points are: (1) there has been a decline, rather than increase, in regional unemployment dispersion concurrent with the mining boom; (2) the ABS's absolute jobs numbers are likely bogus; and (3) PAYG and payroll tax revenues imply much stronger absolute jobs growth, and reconcile more easily with the low unemployment rate. We await Thursday's update.




at 7:28 AM