Callam Pickering

APAC senior economist at @IndeedAU. Former RBA economist and economic journalist. Sports lover, avid reader and pretty opinionated. Active: #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Not sure there are any real people left on here, but if you're not a bot feel free to follow me over at the good place.

https://t.co/G0AX68x6Ye

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Australian job growth over the past year was concentrated in construction (+63k), healthcare & social assistance (+56k) and education & training (+48k).

Agriculture, forestry & fishing was the only industry where total jobs fell #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

A record 6.9% of Australia's workers had multiple jobs in the June quarter.

Ongoing cost-of-living pressures are likely to blame. Many workers are looking for more hours to keep their heads above water #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Australia's job vacancy rate eased to 2% in the June quarter - so 2% of all jobs nationwide are unfilled.

The vacancy rate has been pretty stable over the past two years and is still well above the 1.4% average from 2010-19 #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

AI still have no impact upon Australian labour productivity, which was unchanged in the June quarter and hasn't meaningfully increased in years #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

When you truly understand a topic you can immediately recognise when AI gives you garbage or hallucinates.

When you outsource your university education, I'd wager you will be more easily fooled.

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

We are quite possibly going to create the dumbest generation of university graduates we've ever seen.

And that's problematic because the people most capable of working effectively with AI are those who are subject-matter experts #ausbiz #auspol

https://t.co/eyqBtoNT5T

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Through July, Australian employment has increased 145.8k people this year. That's up from 104.9k over the same period last year, but well short of what was common in 2023 and 2024 #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Australia's unemployment rate increased to 4.5% in July - just slightly below its post-pandemic peak from April #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Businesses would inevitably complain - a lack of pay information gives them flexibility - but it'd be a winner with pretty much everyone who has to apply for jobs.

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Wish this was the case here: https://t.co/OzXXL6zJ0r #auspol #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Pay transparency leads to better hiring matches, allows jobseekers to make more informed decisions and stops jobseekers from wasting time on applications.

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Higher rates of remote work made working multiple jobs easier, while the cost-of-living crisis forced people to earn more.

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

6.5% of Australian workers have multiple jobs. That figure has been elevated for the past five years, reflecting the impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

2.1% of Australian jobs are vacant nationwide. While that number has declined from a peak of 3.1% back in 2022, it remains well above the average vacancy rate from 2010 to 2019 (1.4%) #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Admittedly, a lot of that growth had to do with data centres, so the contribution to GDP wasn't that large since we import those materials.

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Private business investment rose 6% in the March quarter, accounting for 12.6% of real GDP. That's the highest share since September 2015 #ausbiz

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Real GDP per capita fell by 0.1% in the March quarter and is just 1% higher than a year ago #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

What drove Aussie GDP growth in the March quarter?

Both consumption and investment were pretty good, but that was offset by a decline in exports and strong growth in imports.

That left real GDP growth at 0.3% in the March quarter and 2.5% over the past year #ausbiz #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Australia's wage price index rose 3.3% over the past year, compared to consumer prices climbing 4%.

So unless you've received a promotion or changed jobs recently - and I certainly haven't - then there's a good chance your salary buys a lot less than it used to #auspol

[Callam Pickering @CallamPickering]

Another sign that the graduate market is generally healthy is low job search volumes. It’s a sign that friction in the grad market remains relatively low. Grads continue to find jobs quickly, requiring fewer job searches than in the years before the post-pandemic job boom.