This report presents the latest statistics on the Australian labour force male and female workforce ratios. TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE) Employment increased to 11,517,000. Unemployment decreased to 615,800 from a revised April 2012 estimate. Unemployment rate was steady at 5.1%. Participation rate steady at 65.3% from a revised April 2012 rate. Aggregate monthly hours worked...

In the first decade of the century, Australia struck it lucky. A voracious global appetite for commodities meant that we could sell unimaginable quantities of our mineral resources at unimaginable prices. The result was a windfall to our public coffers of at least $180 billion over the six years from 2002 to 2008. To borrow...

The major issues for Australian public policy about governance of the natural resource boom, causing such heated political and policy debates, revolve around community endowments, resource rents, and state fiscal capacity, writes Christopher Lloyd.

This paper examines the sources of the decline in Australia’s productivity growth since the record highs of the 1990s, focusing on the last two complete productivity cycles (ending in 2007-08). It offers a different perspective by looking for a general or macro-economic explanation and then tracing the origins to specific industries. It identifies quite specific...

Times are relatively good for Australia. While the rest of the developed world grapples with crippling debts and the most pervasive economic malaise since the Great Depression, Australia enjoys the warm glow of low public debt, 5% unemployment and the prospect of 'trend' economic growth. While many factors have helped shelter Australia from the economic...