I set myself the goal of writing a post per week for 2012. So far I’ve failed miserably, averaging about one a month. The main reason I haven’t written more frequently is that the idea of writing a considered, 1000 word post is not particularly appealing most evenings.
In lieu of longer posts, I’m going to start posting some ‘charts of interest’, which are just things that have piqued my interest in some way. I won’t accompany them with a whole heap of description or analysis, but will just let them speak for themselves. I’ve been posting these on Twitter, but followers of the blog might’ve missed them.
—
First, the unemployment rate in New Zealand is higher than the rate in any Australian State or Territory (or at least it was in late 2011).
This is relevant to the debate sparked by the “Trans Tasman Review” into greater integration between the two countries. At least at the moment, the differences between NZ and Australia seem to be greater than the differences between the Australian States.
—
On a related note, the gap between the highest and lowest unemployment rates of the Australian States is smaller than it used to be, despite the multi-speed economy.
—
So, the good news is, you are not more likely to be unemployed by being in any one state/territory. The news for NZ’ers is: move to Australia, its still a better place to be?
On the blogging front: I know the feeling, even once a week can feel like such a challenge during busy times – just set aside time (and I might have to do the same)…
That second graph is quite dramatic.
The Seamless National Economy initiative is meant to be assisting with labour mobility. The narrowing of the gap in State unemployment rates suggests that labour may have already become more mobile.
What changed in 2003-2004? In part, it might just be that workers became more aware of the opportunities in the boom states and these opportunities became more interesting.
Thanks for this post, your last graph gave me food for thought and a blog post was born.
http://poliquant.com/two-speed-economy-state-vs-state/