September 2023
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Recent Trends in Australian Productivity
Productivity growth enables rising living standards and is needed for real wages growth to be consistent with stable inflation over the medium term. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, productivity growth in Australia and other advanced economies had been low, because business dynamism, job mobility, global trade and policy reform all slowed. Over the past few years, the pandemic and other shocks distorted productivity outcomes. Even if these shorter term fluctuations wash out, the longer term (and apparently structural) weakness in productivity growth could persist. This would have implications for the rate of nominal wages growth that is consistent with inflation returning to the target band. This article discusses the trends in Australia’s productivity growth before, during and since the pandemic and the implications for the economic outlook.
Adoption of General-purpose Technologies (GPT) in Australia: The Role of Skills
General-purpose technologies (GPT) have the potential to transform how we work, to change the skills we need and to drive productivity growth. It is therefore important to understand the conditions that lead to the successful adoption of GPT. Using a novel database on the adoption of cloud computing and artificial intelligence/machine learning by Australian-listed firms, this article finds that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a short-lived surge in adoption of cloud computing technologies. In addition, there is evidence that profitable adoption is more likely to occur in firms where the Board has members with relevant technological backgrounds, and that firms adopting GPT are more likely to seek staff with related skills. These findings highlight the importance of workers’ and managers’ skills in technology adoption, and the impact this can have on productivity growth.
Green and Sustainable Finance in Australia
Australia has committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This will require significant amounts of investment and financing as we move away from a carbon-intensive economy. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, productivity growth in Australia and other advanced economies had been low, because business dynamism, job mobility, global trade and policy reform all slowed. Over the past few years, the pandemic and other shocks distorted productivity outcomes. Even if these shorter term fluctuations wash out, the longer term (and apparently structural) weakness in productivity growth could persist. This would have implications for the rate of nominal wages growth that is consistent with inflation returning to the target band. This article discusses the trends in Australia’s productivity growth before, during and since the pandemic and the implications for the economic outlook.
Economic Literacy in Australia: A First Look
Those who are economically literate make more informed economic choices, better understand the world around them and can influence public discourse and the actions of government. Given the importance of economic literacy for individuals and society at large, the Bank commissioned a large-scale survey of Australian adults testing their understanding of some core macroeconomic topics. The results enabled compilation of simple literacy scores that represent the Bank's first attempt to gauge economic literacy in Australia. Being male, older, of higher income, having a degree, and having studied or being engaged with economics are associated with higher scores. By contrast, persons aged 18–24 years, unemployed persons and those without a degree had the lowest scores. Questions that tested abstract macroeconomic concepts appeared more difficult than those about more relatable issues that draw on lived experience. These findings speak to the importance of simple and targeted communication by the Bank and other policymakers to support the understanding of economic concepts across the community.
Recent Developments in Small Business Finance and Economic Conditions
The economic environment has become more challenging over the past year, including for small businesses. High inflation, slower growth of demand and difficulties in finding suitable labour have contributed to declines in small business conditions and confidence. Demand for business finance has slowed, consistent with the rise in interest rates and slower growth in economic activity. Small businesses report that accessing funding through banks remains a challenge. The article considers these recent developments, drawing on the discussions of the Small Business Finance Advisory Panel and information from the Bank’s liaison program.
Financial Stability Risks from Commercial Real Estate
Current conditions in global commercial real estate (CRE) markets are challenging. Weak leasing demand and higher interest rates are weighing on CRE owners’ loan servicing ability and asset values. Globally, appetite to lend to CRE investors is softening and signs of financial stress are emerging especially among office owners in the United States. While CRE markets are less likely to pose risks to the banking system given improved lending standards following the global financial crisis (GFC), systemic risks are higher in jurisdictions where the banking system is more exposed to CRE, such as in the United States and Sweden. Australian CRE markets face similar challenging fundamentals, though signs of financial stress appear low at present and systemic risks are lower than in the past. This is a result of Australian banks’ reduced CRE exposures as a share of their total assets and tighter lending standards since the GFC. However, risks would increase in the event of a sharp economic downturn or if systemic risks were to spill over from overseas CRE markets.
New Timely Indicators of Wages Growth
Monitoring developments in wages is important for assessing the inflation outlook, as labour costs are a major factor in firms’ pricing decisions. Over recent years, the Reserve Bank has developed a suite of timely wages indicators based on surveys and administrative data. Together with externally developed indicators, these measures provide a fuller view on wages developments ahead of the release of official statistics. This article explains the methodology behind these indicators and what they reveal about labour costs in Australia.
Financial Health and Employment in the Business Sector: A Non-linear Relationship
This article examines how increased financial stress in the business sector negatively impacts employment through the behaviour of firms. It highlights the non-linearity of the relationship between firms' financial health and employment and identifies thresholds that can serve as useful reference points when assessing the resilience of the business sector and risks to macrofinancial stability. Using data at the individual business level, this article finds that employment outcomes are significantly worse for firms with a profit margin below 5 percent or with a cash surplus (i.e. cash assets plus cash profit) of less than 10 per cent relative to sales.
Reading through the Lines: Price-setting Indicators from Earnings Calls
This article explores how information in earnings call transcripts from Australian firms can contribute to the Reserve Bank's understanding of their price-setting behaviour, as a complement to information gathered from the Bank's liaison program. A large language model is used to process and analyse earnings call transcripts and construct new sentiment indicators for input costs, demand, prices and supply shortages from them. These indicators, starting in 2007 and updated to capture the latest August earnings season, provide useful information about economic conditions and price-setting behaviour, including about developments during the recent period of unusually high inflation.
Measuring Government Bond Turnover in Australia Using Austraclear Data
This article provides new estimates using Austraclear data for monthly turnover ratios for Australian Government Securities (AGS) and semi-government bonds (semis). Previous Reserve Bank estimates used Austraclear data that included repo transactions, as acknowledged at the time. In November 2021 Austraclear implemented a change to reporting standards that excluded repo transactions more effectively. This change allows for more accurate estimates of turnover for AGS and semis. The new turnover estimates are considerably lower, suggesting repo activity was a significant part of the previous estimates. The new estimates, with repo transactions excluded, better align with survey data on turnover published by the Australian Office of Financial Management.
Explainer: Productivity
This Explainer outlines how productivity is measured, what drives productivity growth and how productivity growth contributes to the economic prosperity and welfare of all Australians.
Some graphs in this publication were generated using Mathematica.
ISSN 1837-7211