Australian Unemployment Rates on the Rise

National unemployment rates rose in August to 5.3 percent up from 5.1 percent the previous month.  The new figures push the jobless rate to its highest position in 10 months.

Figures released today revealed that the economy lost 12,600 full time positions during the last month, adding to a greater revised loss of 26,400 full time jobs in July.

Part time jobs went up by 2,900, taking away from the revised 22,300 such positions that were added in … Continue Reading

Court Decision Could See Price of Groceries Increase

Court decision could see price of groceries increase

Australians living in regional areas with no Woolworths or Coles could end up paying more for groceries if the Franklins takeover takes place, according to independent grocers SPAR.

The claim was made after a Federal Court ruling that allows Metcash to take over Franklins supermarkets.

SPAR managing director, Lou Jardin, said that the court decision allowed Metcash to control almost 100 per cent of the supply of packaged groceries to family owned supermarkets, while the rest of the market is shared by Coles and Woolworths.

Mr Jardin criticised the court’s decision in a letter to the Minister for Small Business Nick Sherry, as well as independant MPs Bob Katter, Rob Oakshott, Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie and National’s Leader Barnaby Joyce.

He said the Federal Court had left “struggling rural and regional Australians” at the mercy of “a monopolist with monopolist pricing power”.

“Metcash now controls around 97.5 per cent of the supply of packaged wholesale … Continue Reading

$40 Million Wiped Off Shares in a Day

$40 million wiped off shares in a day

The Australian Stock Exchange recorded its biggest fall in two weeks, with about $40 million of value lost from stocks.

The fall comes following overnight slumps in the US and European markets that were carried along by the growing concerns about the sovereign debt crisis throughout Europe.

At midday, S&P/ASK200 was down 2.7% at 4134.6, while the All Ordinaries also managed to shed 2.7% at 5201.9

At noon, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 2.7 per cent at 4134.6, while the broader All Ordinaries index also was down 2.7 per cent at 4201.9.

According to financial experts, local banks had been under the most pressure after their European counterparts.  These include French bank Societe Generale and British bank Barclays, which both plummeted overnight as concerns about their ability to access funding influenced traders.

Australian banks followed suit, with ANZ down by 4.2% compared with the previous day.  The Commonwealth Bank slipped by 2.6%, Westpac by 2.8% and the NAB by 2.5%.

The ANZ announced during its trading update that the underlying profit for the previous nine months to June was up 16% at $4.2 billion, which had good cause for optimism in the Australian, New Zealand and Asian markets.

Image Courtesy of  Christian Ha…

Optus to Cut 180 Staff and 70 New Roles in August

Optus to Cut Staff

Australia’s second largest Telecommunications company yesterday announced to staff that that they would be retrenching 180 staff from within the company and not fulfilling a further 70 roles that it had planned to. It is part of Optus’ push to lower operating expenditure and raise productivity.

The cuts are expected to mostly affect middle and senior management roles in NSW. Victoria, South Australia and Queensland were also affected. It appears that the redundancies will not affect any of Optus’ customer orientated or service based roles.

An Optus spokesperson advised that there will be no direct impact to the customer experience.

The move follows Telstra’s recent decision to outsource a number of its positions to India.

Image Courtesy of CeBIT Austra…

Gap Widens Between the Rich and Poor

The Rich And Poor Move Further Away

A recent report has revealed that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened even further with almost 70% of Australians knowing someone who is struggling to pay for the most basic necessities. After the Salvo’s Red Shield Appeal Doorknock this weekend, the charity has made public Roy Morgan data based on a random telephone survey. The data shows that 60% of Australians think that the gap between the rich and the poor has increased over the last year and 68% Australians know people who are struggling to pay for basic necessities such as food, electricity, gas and water.

Internal research also reveals that 1 out of 4 of the charity’s clients have the opinion that their financial position has deteriorated in the previous year and 65% of them reveal that they have had to significantly cut down on luxuries such as shampoos, cosmetics and haircuts. Major Neil Venables from the Salvos revealed that these statistics were alarming to say the least. Mr Venables said that the increased cost of living was having a bad impact on the low income families as the charity estimates that more than 2.2 million people live in poverty and this number includes 12% of Australian children.

Major Neil Venables also revealed that they were urgently in need of donations and that every Australians’ social and community services demands were increasing at rapid speed. The recent natural disasters occurring across Australia like the flooding in Queensland and NSW had stretched the resources to the maximum and the need for immediate funding was unavoidable. The annual doorknock will commence on Saturday and will continue till Sunday with a final goal of raising $79 million. Major Peter Sutcliffe from the charity wanted to remind people that the charity was not just about “food and blankets” but it provides crisis accommodation, emergency services, disaster relief, support for families and much more.

Image Courtesy of LeoAmadeus

Drivers Wait for Petrol Prices to Drop

Oil Prices Drop

Drivers anxiously await a considerable decrease in petrol prices, as with the help of this decrease they are likely to pocket $7 after every fill up. This decrease is expected to take effect in approximately a fortnight. Sources reveal that the decrease in petrol prices is not a result of some generous budget decision of the government, in fact it is purely due to market forces. The Commonwealth Securities which is responsible for closely monitoring petrol prices and their impact on the economy, is expecting fuel prices to drop around 8-10 cents a litre in about a fortnight or so given the recent slide in global oil prices.

Savanth Sebastian, an economist at Commonwealth Securities said that this decrease in petrol prices means that every time a driver gets a fill up he will save $7. The weekly report released by the Australian Institute of Petroleum clearly shows that the average unleaded petrol price rose a further 1.3 cents per litre to 145.9 cents during last week, which is the highest level of increase in the period of two and half years. However, Mr Sebastian said that the conditions are expected to improve from here on out.

He said as the global oil prices have slumped in the previous week, drivers can expect to save a lot of their money when they visit a petrol station in two weeks’ time.  Mr Sebastian also revealed that the price of Singapore’s unleaded petrol which is the benchmark for Australian prices decreased last week by its biggest weekly margin since September 2009. According to Savanth Sebastian the upcoming meeting of the OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) in the month of June has also been one of the main factors of the decrease in petrol prices, with member countries looking at potentially increasing oil supply in upcoming months.

Image Courtesy of naturenet.net

Commodity Boom to Boost Federal Budget

Commodity Boom to Boost Federal Budget

The Deloitte Access Economics Business Outlook just issued a report showing that the commodity boom has what it takes to boost the federal budget to push it back to surplus.  However, the same report issued a warning saying that the impending budget will be tough.

Australian Dollar Breaches $US1.07 Mark

Australian Dollar Hits new Heights

A series of good news in income reports has given the Australian dollar a boost that it needs to perform positively against the US dollar, as it breaches the $US1.07 mark .  This is the first time that the Australian dollar breached the mark since 1982.