Opinions on the Australian economy and jobs data

I'm sure you'll all criticise me for this blog post.  Basically I always like to go against the grain and say what nobody else is willing to.  It doesn't matter what the topic, generally I have an opposing view. 

Right now that opposing view is about the Australian economy. 

Media commentators and economists have been spreading stories of doom and gloom for the last few months, well actually, if we include the GFC then it has been the last few years.  But talking more recently the Australian media has been saying:

• There are no jobs.
• The sharemarket has crashed.
• The dollar is weak.
• Mining is suffering.

Well tonight I want to touch on all of those points.

According to commentators people cannot find jobs and the economy is suffering.  If you're a Gen Yer or worse, a Gen Zer, forget about working, you'll be relying on good will and have to go to the Hunter or Tasmania to pick fruit.  That's according to Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz.  He, like Prime Minister Tony Abbott say people can't be choosy and need to take whatever job there is available.  Then get this, the Daily Telegraph this week published a story that backpackers were working in the Hunter picking fruit.  So tell me, why are these jobs so below Australians?  According to this article they can make upwards of $250 a day, the same amount they'd make a week on New Start.  Seems that people are just being picky.  Anecdotal evidence suggests also that there are jobs.  At one point last year I had three jobs.  Yes, they were all casual, but on good weeks between the three I was able to work upwards of 40 hours a week, or a full time week, on bad weeks...yeah let's not talk about those. 

Instead I want to talk though about how people are picky.  At any given time, depending on where you live there are jobs available.  People just aren't willing to do them.  I could have worked full time last year had I wanted to but I was dead set on getting a permanent full time job in my field in a company with the right cultural fit and getting experience in media.  It was a tough year financially but that was a choice I made.  I have to question, how many others are doing the same thing?  The difference is I wasn't relying on the taxpayer like many unemployed are.


Jobs data was released this week which actually shows that unemployment has fallen from 6.3% to 6.1%.  The majority of the 37,000 jobs were created in Queensland despite the state Labor leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, saying that Premier Campbell Newman is eroding jobs and hurting the economy.  The data certainly suggests otherwise.

The sharemarket has crashed.  Okay this one is actually true.  Most shares are actually down on a daily basis.  However before spreading doom and gloom economists need to take into consideration that it is January and people might have overspent over Christmas and therefore can't afford to buy shares.  You also have to take into consideration that most people don't understand how the sharemarket works and don't seem to realise that now is actually the time to buy.  It's a lot like the financial advice you read about how you should only invest in the sharemarket if you can invest a few thousand at one time.  I disagree with this advice because it is much better to save any amount of money, and if you invest in shares, the money isn't immediately available, so you have to really think things through if you decide to sell shares for living expenses or something else.  While you may lose $20 for every $500+ trade, imagine if you hadn't saved at all!  In this case the amount you're saving for a rainy day and hopefully growing actually justifies the fee.
 
 The dollar is week and mining is suffering.  I've joined these two together because with uncertainty and economists speaking negatively, that is likely to overflow into investments as I previously mentioned.  People tend to believe what they read in the news.  Sure, maybe the Chinese market is slowing but why not look for new opportunities?  When people invest in the sharemarket the first thing they're told is to diversify so why aren't companies and governments applying this to how they conduct business?  Why is there this over reliance on China?  What about India and other nations?  What about other industries?  What about diversifying?  This could also help with job creation.

In short, given that job growth is up and the sharemarket is down, now is the perfect time to invest and to grow the economy.  It's much more constructive to invest in business than property.  Property is a dormant asset which just sits there and doesn't actually grow the economy.