Nick Hossack

Updated | Misery Index updated for 2025 data A commonly used and straightforward measure of a country's relative economic pain is known as the Misery Index. It involves a simple calculation: the addition of a country's unemployment rate and its inflation rate. Both indicators are undesirable—so

Data alert | The VIX 'Fear Index' since Trump's tariff Liberation Day The most widely cited metric for measuring economic fear is the VIX—short for Volatility Index. It tracks expected volatility in the US stock market, specifically the S&P 500, which represents the 500

Data alert | ABS Lending Commitments released A frequently overlooked yet revealing economic indicator is the proportion of new home loan commitments going to first home buyers. It is a deceptively simple statistic, yet it provides important insight into intergenerational equity, market accessibility for younger Australians. Each quarter, the Australian Bureau

Data Alert | ABS Labour Force released Key figures In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2025: * Unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. * Participation rate increased to 67.1%. * Employment increased to 14,642,700. * Employment to population ratio increased to 64.4%. * Underemployment rate increased to 6.0%. * Monthly hours worked

Data alert | Country comparisons of residential property prices + Investment Tips below. In a sign of its growing economic strength, India has outpaced advanced economies in residential property price growth since 2009. It tops the global rankings, followed by Chile and Estonia. The chart below doesn’t measure housing affordability as

Data Alert | Wage Price Index for March Qtr 2025 The ABS has released the latest Wage Price Index. This is a highly anticipated release because it provides the benchmark against which governments are judged on whether they are delivering real wage increases. Increasing real wages was Labor’s primary promise

Data Alert | Arrivals and departures of business visitors to Australia One way to assess the extent of Australia’s involvement in international business—and business activity more generally—is to track trends in the number of people visiting the country for business purposes. This is an underappreciated metric. In March

Data Alert | Building Approvals for March 2025 The total number of dwellings approved fell 8.8 per cent in March, to 15,220 - based on seasonally adjusted data. However, over the year to March 25, approvals are up 13.4%. Declines were seen across all dwelling types in March

ALP Left faction has balance of power in Albanese Cabinet. Factional alignments within the ALP are often categorized as "Left" or "Right," though there are also sub-factions and independent alignments. It is not always clear which member of parliament belongs to which faction, and it is