LABOR PRODUCTIVITY – AUSTRALIA

States sign up for new competition agenda to lift wages

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Original article by Shane Wright
The Age – Page: Online : 8-Mar-24

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has hosted a meeting of federal, state and territory governments that has been as acting as a possible starting point for new competition reforms that will in turn lead to higher wages. Many economists believe that the recent decline in global and Australian productivity is partly due to a lack of competitive pressures, which force companies to look at new ways to lift output or better utilise their staff. One issue that the meeting looked at was the growing use of non-compete and no-poach clauses in workplace contracts or agreements, with recently released research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics finding that 47 per cent of businesses imposed at least one form of restraint clause on their workers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Micro-taxes stifle productivity

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Dec-23

The Productivity Commission has released a research paper which raises concern about the growing use of industry levies by Australia’s federal and state governments. The Commission has found that governments are using these levies to raise $11bn in revenue a year ‘by stealth’. The agricultural sector was initially the focus of industry levies, but the Commission notes that the sector now accounts for just $600m of this revenue. Deputy chairman Alex Robson contends that taking action to rein in the use of industry levies could help to boost the nation’s productivity.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Bullock: Pay growth risks higher interest rates

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Nov-23

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock has warned that reducing the inflation rate is the "crucial challenge" facing the domestic economy over the next several years. She also said that rapidly rising labour costs are another challenge for the RBA in restoring inflation to its target range of 2-3 per cent, and stressed that the recent growth in wages will not be sustainable unless productivity improves. Recent data shows that annual wages growth reached a 14-year high of four per cent in the September quarter. Meanwhile, the minutes of the RBA’s board meeting for November show that economic data will determine whether monetary policy is further tightened. Financial markets have priced in a five per cent chance of an interest rate rise in December.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Business backs Lowe on productivity

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 19-Jul-23

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox is amongst the business leaders who have expressed support for comments made by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe regarding productivity. Lowe told the G20 meeting on Monday that low productivity worldwide is a bigger challenge than inflation, and that there is no political will to implement measures to address the problem. Willox says there has been a lack of real policy focus on productivity agenda for more than 15 years. Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott in turn contends that industrial relations policy right is the key to addressing the nation’s productivity challenge.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Global report: Australia must lift its game

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-Jun-23

Australia has ranked 19th out of 64 countries in the latest edition of the World Competitiveness Yearbook report, which is compiled by the International Institute for Management Development. Australia ranks third on life expectancy and health coverage, but it is now in 62nd place in terms of entrepreneurship and 46th with regard to productivity. World Competitiveness Centre director Arturo Bris contends that while resources-rich countries such as Australia tend to be more productive, they can learn a lot from countries such as Switzerland and Singapore, which lack natural resources but have built highly productive economic models.

CORPORATES
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT, WORLD COMPETITIVE CENTRE

IR reforms will blast $13bn hole in economy

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 14-Jun-23

Modelling undertaken by the Centre for International Economics highlights the potential impact of the federal government’s second tranche of industrial relations reforms on productivity in the mining sector. The modelling, which was commissioned by the Minerals Council of Australia, is based on a one per cent fall in productivity; it concludes that the restrictions on the mining sector and supply chains resulting from the reforms could potentially reduce economic activity by $13bn a year and reduce consumption in the mining sector by $6bn. MCA CEO Tania Constable says a one per cent hit to productivity is a "conservative estimate". The CIE also modelled several other scenarios.

CORPORATES
CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Kickstart productivity or be kicked: RBA

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Original article by Patrick Commins, Giuseppe Tauriello
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 17-May-23

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest board meeting show that the decision to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points in May was a "finely balanced" one. Amongst other things, the board members noted that the nation’s declining productivity since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic could make it difficult to bring inflation back under control. The RBA has warned that further interest rate increases are likely unless productivity is ‘kickstarted’. Analysts believe that quarterly wage price index data to be released on Wednesday could determine whether the RBA increases the cash rate in June.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

RBA signals rates pause amid warning on woeful productivity

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Original article by Tom Dusevic
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Mar-23

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board meeting on 7 March show that it may be open to leaving the cash rate on hold in April. The minutes note that RBA board members agreed to reconsider the case for a pause at the April meeting, as this would provide it with additional time to reassess the outlook for the economy. The board also noted that a rate pause will be appropriate at some point in order to more fully assess the effect of the 10 consecutive interest rate increases to date. The minutes show that the RBA board is also concerned about Australia’s low level of productivity and its impact on inflation.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Call to end MUA ports chokehold

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 17-Aug-22

Australian Chamber of ­Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar will use a National Press Club speech on Wednesday to call for productivity improvements at the nation’s ports. He will argue that Australia’s ports are among the least efficient in the world, and that action must be taken to address the Maritime Union of Australia’s "chokehold". McKellar will also argue that industrial relations reform must be high on the agenda for the upcoming jobs and skills summit, as well as an increase in the permanent migrant intake.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Nearly four in five Australians working from home suffered from burnout last year

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Original article by Matt Johnson
The New Daily – Page: Online : 15-Jan-21

An international study undertaken on behalf of work management app Asana has found that 77 per cent of Australians and New Zealanders experienced burnout while working from home in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This compares with 71 per cent of respondents globally. The study also found that working from home resulted in more employees putting in longer hours, yet productivity was negatively affected. Jim Stanford from the Centre for Future Work contends that working from home is not sustainable.

CORPORATES
ASANA, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK