Australian Economy

By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA: Australian headline inflation surprised to the upside, accelerating 3.8% through the year to October.

I cannot comment on the prospects of the latest deal, but we can run some scenario analysis to assess the outcomes.

The larger the nation’s bureaucracy, the worse the policymaking. Data from the Australian Public Service Commission (APS) shows that the number of federal public servants increased by 7.4% in 2024-25, to a record high of 198,529.

The robots are coming for your job.

Undoubtedly, the deterioration in quality has been obvious for years in eastern metropolitan dailies and continues.

The Australian Financial Review recently reported that the cost of the NDIS continues to escalate.

Getting an early assessment of a new treasurer can be quite unfortunate.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has debuted its highly anticipated “complete” monthly consumer price index.

When most people first take out life insurance, it’s tied to a big life moment, buying a home, getting married, or starting a family.

Australia’s unemployment rate is currently tracking at a historically low 4.3% and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest Statement of Monetary Policy forecasts that it will remain at around its current level until the end of 2027.

Viktor Schvets’ Convergence of Storms is not a good outlook for Australia.

The outlook Australians hold for the future has been deeply sub-par for a long while now, with the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index sitting dramatically below the post-1990 level and roughly where it was during the Global Financial Crisis.

On Wednesday this week, the ABS will finally release a full monthly CPI series that will ultimately replace the quarterly measure.

Buying a property comes with a long list of decisions, and most buyers naturally focus on structure, price, and future plans.

By Ashwin Clarke, Senior Economist at CBA Wages measured by the Wage Price Index rose by 0.8%/qtr held up by strength in state government enterprise agreements, in line with both our, consensus, and the RBA’s expectations.

So much for the consumer recovery.

This is right, but for the wrong reason.

On Thursday, I lambasted Treasurer Jim Chalmers for boasting that Labor has delivered the “longest period of consecutive real wage growth in almost a decade” following eight consecutive quarters of annual real wage growth: Chalmers’ boast came despite real wages falling by 0.5% in Q3 2025, tracking at mid-2011 levels.

Since the start of 2025, the Australian labour market has been on a rollercoaster.