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.
Topic
Productivity
A collection of 9 issues
Science: Australia’s decade of stability in proficiency
Australia’s science performance fell during the decade after 2006, but the decline has since stalled. The latest PISA results show science scores essentially unchanged since 2015 and Australia maintaining its advantage over comparable OECD countries.
Mathematics: Australia’s two-decade steady decline in proficiency
Australia’s PISA mathematics performance has fallen at every cycle since 2003. The latest data show more low-performing students, fewer top performers, and a sharply reduced lead over comparable OECD countries.
Australia’s industrial strikes have not disappeared — but they have collapsed
Australia’s industrial disputes data show a recent lift in activity, but the deeper story is the extraordinary long-run decline in strikes and working days lost since the 1980s.
Why does public administration capture 8.8% of employee compensation from 5.9% of hours worked?
Public Administration and Safety accounts for less than 6% of Australian hours worked but almost 9% of employee compensation — the largest positive gap of any industry. The statistic raises an intriguing question about why.
One-quarter of the economy generated almost half of the growth in hours worked under Labor
Nearly half of the increase in hours worked since Labor came to office has occurred in health, education and public administration. ABS data shows non-market hours grew 18.9%, compared with 7.6% across the market economy.
Australia’s productivity gap with the US is becoming embarrassing
Australia and the United States are recording similar GDP growth, but they are getting there very differently. Australian productivity fell over the year to June while US productivity rose strongly.
GDP Released: Australian productivity has barely increased in a decade
Australia's economy grew 0.4% in the June quarter, but hours worked increased by exactly the same amount. GDP per hour worked remains only around 1% above its June 2016 level.
Labor’s investment boom survives a data-centre hangover
Private capital expenditure fell in June, but the headline masks strong annual growth, rising investment intentions and an extraordinary data-centre investment cycle.