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Why same sex and Socceroos will boost economy
It was staggering to see the revelation that we had the longest run of job gains in 23 years and not one major newspaper thought it was worthy of a story, headline or pointer on their front pages! I know there are a lot of distractions at the moment in Canberra, with many of our politicians exposed as ‘foreigners’ now sucked into a revolving door that won’t necessarily bring them back into our Parliament.
Why wasn’t our jobs number reported?
I can understand the same sex win for the ‘yes’ camp being a big story but that was one for Wednesday. And ditto for the great win by our Socceroos. However somewhere on Thursday, some editor should have recognised how important our jobs report was. It wasn’t just a good one on its own but added to the other positive news of the week, and it all points to the likelihood that the economy of 2018 will be better than 2017.
If that doesn’t excite you, then think more jobs, higher wages, better stock prices, bigger super balances and a lower Budget Deficit for our Government, whoever will be running it!
I’m excited
Enough of my praising of our improving economy, which should deliver better material lives for a lot of Aussies, let me show you why I got so excited about this week’s revelations.
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Here they are in a nutshell:
Jobs rose for the 13th straight month, up by 3,700 in October after rising by 26,600 in September (previously reported as a rise of 19,800 jobs).
Full-time jobs rose by 24,300, while part-time jobs fell by 20,700. Economists had tipped an increase in jobs of around 20,000.
Hours worked rose by 0.3% in October and were up by 3.2% over the year. Trend hours worked rose 3.1% over the year, the fastest growth in seven years.
Unemployment fell from 5.5% to 5.4% – the lowest jobless rate since February 2013.
Unemployment remains under 5% in three of the nation’s states and territories. In fact, the NSW job market could be considered at full employment with a jobless rate of 4.6% — a 9-year low.
The number of unemployed males fell to a 5-year low of 5.2% in October. The female unemployment rate was 5.6%.
Aussies actively employed or looking for work rose to 5 ½-year highs.
The business conditions index rose from +13.9 points in September to a record high of +21.1 points in October.
The business confidence index was unchanged at +7.6 points in October, remaining above its long-run average of 5.9 points; and
The measure of business profitability surged from +16.6 points in September to an all-time high of +26.2 points in October.
Up and down
On the consumer front, it was a mixed picture, with the Westpac monthly reading only just negative, with pessimists slightly outnumbering optimists after a previous month when the opposite happened. However, the weekly ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating rose by 2% to 114.8 – its highest level in seven weeks – after falling by 0.7% in the prior week. Sentiment towards current and future economic conditions rose by 3.5% and 7% respectively.
More on the rise
Meanwhile, expert stock market analysts have local earnings from our top companies on the rise and many are tipping our S&P/ASX 200 index to reclaim the 6000 mark before Christmas, before marching to the 6500 level or higher by year’s end.
That could prove a conservative guess, if President Donald Trump can get his tax cuts passed ASAP.
Same sex stimulus
Throw into this largely positive mix the hospitality spend that will come from same sex couples, who aren’t renowned for their money miser ways, and we can see the demand for reception centres, catering, photographers, alcohol providers and marriage celebrants going through the roof.
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Soccer spend
Meanwhile, imagine what hotels, restaurants and all the related businesses to Australian soccer would have missed out on if the Socceroos had lost on Wednesday night!
Worth fighting for
Australia is on an optimism roll but too many of our gatekeepers in the media aren’t programmed for positivity, which is their right. However, it’s a pity that they have to be obstacles to building the kind of positivity that gets businesses investing, consumers spending and employers creating jobs for our fellow Australians.
I think that’s worth fighting for — go Australia!
Peter Switzer is the founder of the Switzer Super Report, a newsletter and website for self-managed super funds.
