Mind the gap?

02 March 2010Should we care about the earnings gap between city professionals and the men and women who clean their offices, or is it enough to know that both groups are steadily getting richer, asks Andrew Leigh

Australian economic policymakers have a zippy self-confidence these days. Having dodged the 1997 Asian financial crisis, avoided the 2001 US tech-wreck, and emerged largely unscathed from the Global Financial Crisis, our economic growth seems remarkably robust. Adjusting for buying power, Australian incomes per person are 70 percent higher than they were in 1980.

Averages are handy, but can sometimes conceal more than they reveal (every time James Packer enters a bar, the average drinker becomes a millionaire)...

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Photo: Andrew Jeffrey

Noticeboard

07 February 2012
The Productivity Commission has been asked to report within 8 months on Default Superannuation Funds in Modern Awards. The inquiry covers the design of criteria for the selection and ongoing assessment of superannuation funds for nomination as default funds in modern awards.
20 December 2011

Arts Minister Simon Crean has announced an independent review of the Australia Council for the Arts ahead of the development of the nation's first National Cultural Policy in almost 20 years.

20 December 2011

On 18 November 2011, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.