Category Archives: Productivity Commission

Australian workers’ productivity drops 3.7% as employment surges and investment slows

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Wage growth from higher employment and hours worked without output gains could fan inflation, Productivity Commission warns

A surge in employment combined with scant investment by firms to improve output triggered a sharp drop in worker productivity, limiting prospects for income growth without fanning inflation, the Productivity Commission said in its annual report.

Across the economy, productivity fell 3.7% in 2022-23, as output growth failed to keep pace with a record 6.9% increase in hours worked, the commission said. A rush by employers to hire new staff was much higher than in previous bursts – the nearest comparison was the 4.3% rise in hours worked in 1988-89.

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Integrity expert says officials should turn down Qantas Chairman’s Lounge memberships

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Memberships of the heads of the Reserve Bank and the Productivity Commission further evidence of airline’s soft power among political decision-makers

The incoming Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, and outgoing chair of the Productivity Commission, Michael Brennan, are members of Qantas’s high-end Chairman’s Lounge – an invitation-only perk a top public integrity expert says officials should turn down.

The memberships, contained in the gifts and benefits registers of the agencies, show how the airline has used its soft diplomacy to build relationships in Australia’s most important institutions, including the competition and corporate regulators and aviation safety authority.

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Workers face longer hours for less pay without productivity boost, Jim Chalmers says

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Treasurer says Australia must improve service delivery in the care sector to offset ‘woeful’ economic indicators

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says Australians’ incomes will fall and the working week will get longer without major boosts to productivity, saying the nation must boost service delivery in the care sector to offset some “woeful” economic indicators.

Ahead of releasing the Productivity Commission’s five-yearly report on Friday, Chalmers again downplayed the prospect of major cost-of-living relief in the May budget, but said it would be soon become a focus for the government.

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Productivity Commission says new Australian water deal must recognise climate change

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Federal and state governments are being urged to respond to the effects of the climate crisis and to Indigenous rights to water

States and the federal government should forge a new compact on water policy that explicitly recognises climate change, and which sets “triggers” for rapid policy responses, the Productivity Commission has said.

Releasing its draft report on national water reform, the commission has called for a substantial overhaul of the 17-year-old National Water Initiative, a bedrock document that commits the states and federal government to working together on water policy as well as outlining a work program for the future.

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