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19 Sep Australia versus America: two very different manufacturing economies 19 Sep Victoria’s prison population rises 15% ahead of the state election 18 Sep Unemployment Rates - Split by Industry Sector

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Manufacturing

Australia versus America: two very different manufacturing economies

The US manufacturing sector is larger and structurally deeper than Australia's, particularly in automotive, aerospace and defence. Australia remains strong in food, metals, resources and selected advanced manufacturing niches.

Victoria Prison Population

Victoria’s prison population rises 15% ahead of the state election

Victoria's prison population has grown faster than any other Australian jurisdiction over the past year. Yet its imprisonment rate remains the second-lowest nationally, complicating the law-and-order story ahead of November's election.

Unemployment Rates

Unemployment Rates - Split by Industry Sector

Australia’s headline unemployment rate hides enormous differences between industries. This Explainer compares all 19 industry unemployment rates and how they have changed since 2010.

Small Business

Australia Inc: Small business is losing economic ground

Small businesses dominate Australia's business count, but their economic footprint is shrinking. Their share of private-sector employment has fallen from 53% in 2006 to 39%, while their share of GDP has dropped from 40% to 32%.

Australia’s population reaches 27.9 million — 68% live in the capital cities

Australia’s population has reached 27.92 million, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates. At 31 March 2026, the population was 27,921,150, up 392,700 people, or 1.4 per cent, over the previous year. New South Wales remains comfortably the largest state, with 8.

Benchmark Indicators

Australian economy at a glance

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Priority monitoring and rapid analysis of the releases that matter to government relations, corporate affairs and policy teams.

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Bank Profits

Explainer: Why scale matters so much in Australian banking

Australia’s smaller deposit-taking institutions are not necessarily being beaten on lending margins. APRA data suggest the much bigger problem is the cost of providing banking services at smaller scale.

Temporary Visa Holders

Background to Tony Burke's pending immigration announcement

If the debate is about temporary migration, the first number to understand is the stock of temporary visa holders already in Australia. That number reached 3.03 million at the end of 2025.

Federal Reserve

Background: The Fed inflation target

The Fed's 2% inflation target sounds simple. In practice, US monetary policy has evolved from Volcker's war on inflation to average inflation targeting and, since 2025, back to flexible inflation targeting.

Federal Reserve

Why the Fed just raised rates

The Federal Reserve has raised rates for the first time since 2023. Persistent inflation explains the economics, but Kevin Warsh’s appointment by Donald Trump makes the politics unusually significant.

Reading: Australia’s quarter-century decline in proficiency

Australia’s latest PISA results show that the deterioration in educational performance extends well beyond mathematics. Reading performance has also declined substantially. When the OECD’s comparable reading series began in 2000, Australian 15-year-olds recorded an average PISA reading score of 528.3. By 2025, that had fallen

Bail

Why are 43% of Australian prisoners unsentenced?

More than two in five Australian prisoners are now unsentenced, compared with roughly one in nine in the early 1990s. This explainer looks at the rise of remand, why it matters, and the striking differences between states.

ATM

Background: What the ACCC’s regional ATM decision means

The ACCC has approved a three-year trial of shared regional ATMs. The decision supports fee-free cash access but also acknowledges that shared infrastructure could affect the viability of existing regional banking services.

Productivity

RBA links poor productivity to inflation

Australia's productivity fell 0.2% in 2025–26. The RBA says weak productivity lowers the economy's growth speed limit, while businesses are also reporting the burden of continually changing regulation.

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