{"id":26758,"date":"2014-01-08T16:47:45","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T06:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billmitchell.org\/blog\/?p=26758"},"modified":"2014-01-08T16:47:45","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T06:47:45","slug":"australia-vacancy-data-undermines-the-deregulation-lobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billmitchell.org\/blog\/?p=26758","title":{"rendered":"Australia – vacancy data undermines the deregulation lobby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tYesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – International Trade in Goods and Services<\/a> – data for November 2013 which told us that the national economy is slowing. We learned that while exports were aout steady, imports (particularly consumption goods) fell for the fourth consecutive month and capital and intermediate goods imports rose, which suggests that explanations relating to the switching of the commodities (mining) boom from the investment to export stage are not accurate. The data tells us that household incomes are being squeezed by rising unemployment which generally means that import spending will drop. The irony is that the trade deficit fell, which means that the drain on growth from the trade sector is now lower (that is, this is a stimulatory move) despite it being driven by sluggish growth. Today, the ABS released its – Job Vacancies<\/a> – data for the November-quarter 2013 and it confirmed that the labour market continues to slide backwards in the face of subdued private spending and the national government’s penury. This is all in the context of conservatives coming out and slamming gay marriages, single mothers, women who seek abortions and the meagre number of labour market protections that remain in place. It is all about priorities I suppose. The current government is suggesting their priorities are to further the well-being of the well-to-do and chip away at what assistance is available for the disadvantaged Australians.
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\nThe continuing obsession among policy makers around the world is a combination of fiscal austerity and deregulation (particularly of labour markets), which they claim is the path to prosperity. I know these are just catch cries that aim to obfuscate the underlying intent which is to redistribute real income away from workers. The structural reform argument goes that growth can be engendered by deregulating the labour market to remove inefficiencies that create bottlenecks for growth even when fiscal austerity is slashing aggregate demand and killing growth. The 1994 OECD Jobs Study the provides the framework for this policy approach. The only problem is that it failed even before the crisis emerged. But with policymakers intent on slashing aggregate demand, which they know will kill growth, they have to offer something that they can pretend will generate growth. The structural reform agenda has zero credibility in the same way that fiscal austerity has zero credibility. The latest vacancy data from Australia continues to provide an evidential basis for rejecting both conservative agendas.<\/p>\n

The highlights of today’s November-quarter 2013 (seasonally adjusted) data are:<\/p>\n