STATES’ PUBLIC SECTOR LIFT; INDIA UNI PUSH

Public servant numbers, wage bills on the rise

Public servant numbers across Australia’s three levels of government rose by 3.5 per cent over the year to June 2023, with the total wages bill up by almost seven per cent. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that the nation had 2.43 million employees in federal, state and local government in June, with total wages rising to almost $215 billion in 2022-23. State and territory governments accounted for almost 77 per cent of Australia’s public servants, with states and territories also forking out the largest increase (7.6 per cent) in total wages. Public administration and safety (including defence), education and training, and health care and social assistance accounted for around 90 per cent of total public servant numbers.

Bowen: renewables key to national security

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has invoked national security in promoting the drive toward cleaner energy. In an address to an energy forum, the Minister said current geopolitical circumstances, such as conflict in Ukraine, were demonstrating the importance of energy independence. He said the resultant European energy supply crisis had highlighted flaws in energy security reliant on concentrated fossil fuel supply chains. By contrast, Mr Bowen said, renewable energy had in-built security advantages, with Australia having the best wind and solar resources in the world. The Minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s target of renewables generating 82 per cent of the National Energy Market by 2030.

Australia moves to meet Indian higher education demand

Education Minister Jason Clare has strongly pushed Australia’s education credentials to cater for an expected surge in India’s level of tertiary education. In the city of Gandhinagar to release the Federal Government’s education strategy for India, Mr Clare said Australian education providers had educated more than 400,000 Indian students in the last 20 years. India’s National Education Policy addresses the future tertiary needs of the 250 million students presently enrolled in Indian schools. Under the plan, India is looking to lift the gross tertiary enrolment rate from 26 per cent in 2018 to 50 per cent by 2035 – or between 30 to 35 million additional higher education students in the next 12 years.

Inflation two years away from target range

Australia’s inflation rate will take two more years to fall within the Reserve Bank’s two to three per cent target range, according to the RBA. The central bank’s latest Monetary Policy Statement says lingering demand pressures in the economy and persistent services inflation is contributing to higher-than-expected inflation forecasts. Inflation – still above five per cent - is now predicted to decline to around 3.5 per cent by the end of 2024 and a little below three per cent 12 months later. The RBA says the unemployment rate is expected to rise gradually to 4.25 per cent over the next year. Releasing its statement while lifting the cash rate target to 4.35 per cent, the RBA also says some of the earlier tightening in monetary policy is still working its way through the economy; it says consumption growth is already weaker because of higher inflation and rising interest rates.

Training challenges for SA defence sector

South Australia’s defence industry workforce would need to grow from 3,500 direct jobs to more than 8,500 in the 2040s to support defence projects, according to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. The Defence Minister and the SA Premier Peter Malinauskas released a report on addressing the workforce challenges of delivering conventionally-armed, nuclear powered submarines and continuous naval shipbuilding. To provide the skills levels, it is intended to engage an estimated 27,000 students and 1,500 teachers in at least 180 SA schools to support science, mathematics, engineering and technology (STEM) education pathways for students. The joint Federal-SA plan also calls for an industry capability pipeline of around 2600 additional vocational education training and university students through flexible training programs.

ABS data highlights casual employment, work-from-home trends

Workers employed on a casual basis accounted for 23 per cent of all employees in 2022, or around 2.7 million employees in the Australian workforce, according to official figures. Data collected on working arrangements in 2021 and 2022 by the ABS show that 21 per cent of employees did not have minimum guaranteed hours, while 1.1 million people, or 8.3 per cent of employed people, were independent contractors. The construction sector had the highest proportion (25 per cent) of independent contractors. During the early months of Covid-19 in May 2020, the rate of casual employment fell to a near 40-year low, of 20.6 per cent. After the Covid peak, by August 2021, 41 per cent of employees were reporting they worked regularly from home, up from 30 per cent in 2015.