Engineering taking up the slack. Two sets of Australian Bureau of Statistics figures out this morning show that while residential and other building might be in decline but engineering construction is more than taking up the slack.
The building work figures for the March quarter on their own would be somewhat dismal. In seasonally adjusted terms the value of work done this year was down 6.6% on 2011.
There’s no sign there that interest rate falls are stimulating the housing industry.
The bright side is that more tradesmen are available to work on the engineering projects that are still growing apace.
Where the rich and poor live. A new series of data from the ABS this morning — a comparison of variations in Wage and Salary Income between Local Government Areas. The first set of figures cover the years from 2003-04 to 2008-09 and they already show the influence of the mining boom on the new high income earners.
Some news and views noted along the way.
- “ASEAN Way” founders in South China Sea storm.
- Reputation for gender equity questioned — Women professorships low in some Scandinavian universities due to s-xism.
- Somali refugees top one million mark.
- The ultimate cure for writer’s block?
- Despite protests, Boy Scouts reaffirm ban on gays.
- Swearing on the football pitch has gone too far.
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