{ Employment 2012: Predictions and Pressures }
20.02.12
On Friday I attended a breakfast hosted by The Australian and held at KPMG. Speakers included: Andrew Fraser (Queensland Treasurer and Minister for the State Development and Trade), and Professor Judith Sloan (The Australian’s Economics Editor)… Judith was excellent and it was interesting to hear Andrew Fraser speak and how he positioned himself with the upcoming election. Here are some dot points I took away from the event:
Andrew described the Queensland economy not as a dual economy but as a 10 speed economy, Judith described it as a ‘patchwork economy’ with a hub like Gladstone booming and somewhere like Cairns really struggling due to their reliance on tourism and the strong Aussie dollar deterring tourists
- Because of the point above, Queensland’s diversity is also its biggest challenge
- In 2011 Qld led the way in terms of new jobs created – approximately 16,400 and WA was a close second with 16,200 new jobs created – VIC and NSW saw a decline in new job created in 2011
- In Queensland there was a huge increase in the total number of hours worked and Andrew believes this is because Queensland workers are working longer hours to compensate for the cut backs their organisations had during the GFC, however this increase in hours won’t be sustainable and employers will look to temporary/contract staff as the solution to this increasing workload
- Andrew Fraser believes that recruitment in Queensland is in a strong position in the next 12 – 18 months – with many of the new positions created being filled by contract workers
- There was a strong discussion around the mobility of workers and the opening up of airports such as the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast as options for FIFO – to tap into the trades based workers who want to have the lifestyle of the Sunshine Coast, but the benefit of working remotely – on this point, they also discussed watching a ‘commute to work happening overhead’, not just via car or public transport.
Interestingly, these points above are all topics that have come up during client meetings Angie and I have attended in the last two weeks.
