Migration boost will stave off inflation ( ABC News)
Jan 21st 2011, 12:27 pm
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Migration boost will stave off inflation ( ABC News)
Migration boost will stave off inflation, expert says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
By finance reporter Alicia Barry
Posted 9 hours 59 minutes ago
There are calls for the Federal Government to increase migration to boost economic growth and prevent rising inflation.
The ANZ says migrant and overall population growth has slowed markedly since mid 2009 and will restrict Australia's economic growth in the years ahead.
The Federal Government forecasts that the Australian economy will grow by 3.25 per cent in 2010/11, rising to 4 per cent in 2011/12.
ANZ property research head Paul Braddick says if Australia is to grow at levels beyond the 3 per cent that the country has been accustomed to, migration needs to be lifted.
"Where net migration numbers are heading in the next year or so, that [growth] will probably reduce to something like 2.5 to 3 per cent," he said.
ANZ expects demand for workers to increase significantly in the short to medium term because of the mining boom, flood reconstruction and infrastructure and housing requirements.
Mr Braddick says without a boost to migration to fill those vacancies, there will be further constraints placed on the jobs market.
"That will end up flowing into higher wages and higher interest rates," he said.
He says while there is already a looming shortage of housing in Australia's major capital cities, increasing the country's intake of skilled migrants will not necessarily put further pressure on the housing market.
"In a sense it is a double-edged sword in that one of the restrictions that we see on new dwelling construction is a lack of available labour," he said.
"While training programs are to be supported over the next couple of years, in the short term the only way we are going to really deal with the demands on the construction industry is to import that labour."
Australia's unemployment rate currently sits at 5.1 per cent, the next official reading of the labour market is due out on February 10.
By finance reporter Alicia Barry
Posted 9 hours 59 minutes ago
There are calls for the Federal Government to increase migration to boost economic growth and prevent rising inflation.
The ANZ says migrant and overall population growth has slowed markedly since mid 2009 and will restrict Australia's economic growth in the years ahead.
The Federal Government forecasts that the Australian economy will grow by 3.25 per cent in 2010/11, rising to 4 per cent in 2011/12.
ANZ property research head Paul Braddick says if Australia is to grow at levels beyond the 3 per cent that the country has been accustomed to, migration needs to be lifted.
"Where net migration numbers are heading in the next year or so, that [growth] will probably reduce to something like 2.5 to 3 per cent," he said.
ANZ expects demand for workers to increase significantly in the short to medium term because of the mining boom, flood reconstruction and infrastructure and housing requirements.
Mr Braddick says without a boost to migration to fill those vacancies, there will be further constraints placed on the jobs market.
"That will end up flowing into higher wages and higher interest rates," he said.
He says while there is already a looming shortage of housing in Australia's major capital cities, increasing the country's intake of skilled migrants will not necessarily put further pressure on the housing market.
"In a sense it is a double-edged sword in that one of the restrictions that we see on new dwelling construction is a lack of available labour," he said.
"While training programs are to be supported over the next couple of years, in the short term the only way we are going to really deal with the demands on the construction industry is to import that labour."
Australia's unemployment rate currently sits at 5.1 per cent, the next official reading of the labour market is due out on February 10.
Jan 21st 2011, 9:03 pm
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Re: Migration boost will stave off inflation ( ABC News)
Or, put another way "lets allow lots more migrants in to keep wage increases down".
Jan 21st 2011, 9:26 pm
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Posts: 273
Re: Migration boost will stave off inflation ( ABC News)
"He says while there is already a looming shortage of housing in Australia's major capital cities"
Ha ha. Oh yeah, looming shortage. You can see that happening with the high clearance rate at auctions these days. You just can't seem to be able to get a house these days with them all being snapped up!
Ha ha. Oh yeah, looming shortage. You can see that happening with the high clearance rate at auctions these days. You just can't seem to be able to get a house these days with them all being snapped up!
