As wage growth soared and inflation gripped the western world in the 1970s, governments struggled to maintain economic stability, and somewhere along the way, the curious notion came into being that full employment actually meant having around five per cent of workers sitting on the sidelines.At that level of unemployment, wages and inflation would be kept in check.
Now, it reckons even that was wrong. If we are ever going to get the economy into recovery mode, we need a jobless number of three-point-something. True, a lot of people prefer to work part-time. But a large number of Australians don't have as much work as they need or would like.Right now, around 8.5 per cent of our total workforce is in that situation and women fare worse than men.
The jobs recovery post-COVID has been skewed to those older than 25 and have come at the expense of the young.For most of this century, Australia has welcomed a large intake of new arrivals, making up close to 65 per cent of our population growth. While those new arrivals add to demand and spur employment, they add extra competition for existing jobs and keep a lid on wages.
'Australia's recovery...has been nothing short of astonishing', 'As Mr Estlake points out, while job vacancies rose to a record in February, there are still 2.8 workers for every available job' Not a word from the congenital whingers & ALP sewer rats regarding todays good news