China planning to enforce paid annual leave
China is looking to enforce paid annual leave more rigorously to ensure that most workers can enjoy better holidays by 2020.
Christchurch and New Zealand two years on – where is the leadership?
Building Consents Remain Flat
January is usually a slow month in terms of residential building consents.
Positive start to 2012 for building sector
Now that the numbers are in for the first quarter of 2012, it can be seen that there has been a steady improvement in the number of residential building consents issued. In the last quarter of 2011 3,760 residential building consents were issued. In the first quarter of 2012, this number has crept up to 3,860. However, any enthusiasm in regards to an up-turn in the industry needs to be treated with caution - 2011 was not a good year for the building construction industry - and any improvements in the numbers or our forecasts are coming off a low base, as shown in the figure below.
Australia's economy back into positive territory
After a brief foray into the red, Australia’s GDP is up on the same quarter a year ago (by a measly 0.4 percent). This was thanks to a strong March quarter in which GDP grew by the same percentage. The main factors driving the resurgence were reduced imports and stronger exports, as the A$ plummeted (from 85c to 65c against the greenback in three months) along with oil prices. These factors have also seen the balance of payments deficit fall by 27 percent in the March quarter, seasonally-adjusted.
Comment: RBA raising rates because they can?
The announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia that it is raising interest rates by 25 basis points is stupefying. This is a strong statement from an author who generally has a lot of respect for the monetary policy system in Australia, which doesn’t use inflation as its sole target.
US continues to struggle
The news out of the United States continues to be bad on all fronts. Unemployment sits at 8.1 percent (2.6m job losses in the last four months, and 851,000 in February alone). Even the usual productivity gains are absent, down 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter. And for the first time (yes, the first time) in the current downturn, the United States is in a technical recession, having suffered two consecutive quarters of shrinkage. All of which tells us the irrelevance of such word games and technicalities. House sales continue to drop (-48 percent on last January), and with interest rates at 0-0.25 percent, other measures will have to work.
Nothing positive in the US
Eurozone - a mixed story
The refinancing rate in the Eurozone was held steady at 4% in September, in line with decisions by monetary authorities in most major economies. This was to counter the jitters caused by the subprime debacle. This was in an environment, where, just weeks before the 6 September meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), most economists had been predicting a 25 basis point rise.