Weekly Digest – 03 July 2024

Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.

Australia’s competitiveness hits 13-year high

Australia rose to 13th from 19th place out of 67 nations for competitiveness, according to the Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2024. It was Australia’s highest ranking in 13 years.

Employers call for more overseas workers as Australian ‘skills gaps’ hurt productivity

Australian workers are increasingly “not proficient in their roles” and are hurting productivity, with more than half of public sector employers relying on foreigners to fill “skills gaps”, new research has revealed. Universities have been accused of contributing to the problem by failing to train graduates in basic “employability skills” such as working in an office environment or operating standard software.

Housing sensitivity exposes economic risks

A recent study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has spotlighted the significant sensitivity of certain countries to monetary policy changes, particularly through their housing markets, with Australia identified as one of the most vulnerable nations, Ray White reported.

Super funds grow fast, fuelled by good returns

Superannuation continued to grow strongly in the March quarter with APRA figures showing overall funds in the system up a strong 11.3 per cent to $3.85 trillion compared to a year earlier.

Why so glum? As our stagnant economy is crawling along, there’s reason to be cheerful

Right now things feel awful – but help is on the way, writes economist and acadamic Peter Martin.

House prices to increase another 5 percent by year’s end

The growth of Australian property prices is showing no sign of slowing down, with KPMG forecasting prices to increase another 5 percent before the end of year.

Traders boost rate rise bets following surprise inflation figures

Traders have bolstered their bets that the Reserve Bank will resume its run of interest rate increases, ascribing a more than 70 per cent chance of additional tightening by November.

New tax brackets kick in 1 July. Here are some other new laws starting this financial year

While we might hear about new laws at any time, often they aren’t scheduled to kick in until either a new year or a new financial year. And with the beginning of the 2024-25 financial year, a bunch of new rules apply. Here’s a quick wrap of some of them.

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