Whats working life like, Recession or Not ?

CastlebarMan

A lot of media seem to be pointing at a down turn in Oz, Whats the real story folks, how are you findind it. Is the media talk sh1T.

Plug

CastlebarMan wrote: »

A lot of media seem to be pointing at a down turn in Oz, Whats the real story folks, how are you findind it. Is the media talk sh1T.

From what i can see there is no real slow down. i work in the motor industry and the money people are willing to spend money on repairs is mind blowing. The mining industry is slowing a bit but nothing like back home. The wages are also nuts.

jameson4me

Back from oz since march and returning in early January. Worked in mining and hoping to return to that. Have been chatting a good few mates out there that work in mining and they all say it has slowed down a bit but there are still job vacancies, just not as many.

Doc

The company I work for are in the building trade and there has been no slowdown for us but I think we are a bit of an exception rather then the rule.

A draftsman I work with left the company a year ago and returned last month because the company he went to had to make people redundant. Despite being quite good and a nice guy he said he found it difficult to find a job and was happy we took him back. He is a permanent resident. He said that there was contract work going but not much full time jobs.
(This is in Melbourne)

jank

IT is very up and down. Not many people forking out on big infrastructure projects. There are jobs there but it is very up and down and really depends on your skills. Nobody is spending it seems, all waiting to see what happens next.

CRenegade

I work as a town planner for a council in Melbourne. The bigger scale and more expensive projects are down but planning applications in general are steady. There are less jobs in this industry but totally different from the slowdown in Ireland. The mining industry is slowing a bit but I hear the government is trying to increase the housing industry to compensate.

catbear

Doc wrote: »

He said that there was contract work going but not much full time jobs.
(This is in Melbourne)

Melbourne’s median home price is 8.4 times median household income, compared with 6.9 times in London, 6.2 times in New York and 5.5 times in Toronto.

I think there could be trouble ahead there.

The number of unoccupied homes further exacerbates the issue, according to tax-reform advocacy group Prosper Australia. About 246,742, or 11.3 percent, of homes across Victoria were unoccupied, data from the 2011 Census showed. Melbourne alone has about 90,730 empty houses, according to a report by Earthsharing Australia, a subsidiary of Prosper, based on the number of homes that used less than 50 liters (13.2 gallons) of water a day between July and December.
“There’s a profound oversupply in both apartments in the city and in the outer suburbs,” said David Collyer, campaign manager at Prosper. “We’re not seeing anything like the demand response needed to sustain a recovery. The market has nowhere to go but down.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-30/melbourne-hasn-t-seen-worst-of-lower-home-prices-as-glut-builds.html

Perth feels like it's got another few years of investment boom yet, we'll see what happens then. Mining has a history of boom and bust but there is generally a steady flow of work there. Mining is also a high burnout industry, not many are suited to it long term. Moving to the mines is as big a move for an some Australians as moving to Australia is for some Irish, they'll do it only if they have to. There is a lot of talk of using housing to spur economic activity but so far there's been little commitment and sales have being falling in many markets. The central bank interest rate is now back down at the emergency level of 2008 and looks like it go further down next year to cushion the general slowdown.

irishmover

Work in mining. Got quiet last 2 months. Improved a bit recently though, hasn't gotten worse anyway. Early next year it's to improve again apparently.

kinggriff

I am a qualified mechanical engineer and struggled to get a relevant job in Melbourne as I've only 2.5 years experience. I've gotten a job in telecommunicatoins and have recently been made permanent, after a 3 month contract. I think the market definitely is tough and they really are holding out for the people they want instead of taking any risks.

irishmover

kinggriff wrote: »

I am a qualified mechanical engineer and struggled to get a relevant job in Melbourne as I've only 2.5 years experience. I've gotten a job in telecommunicatoins and have recently been made permanent, after a 3 month contract. I think the market definitely is tough and they really are holding out for the people they want instead of taking any risks.

Surveyor 1.3 years experience post graduate making a fortune with numerous offers.... Market is tough by trade not because of decline....

TKline

catbear wrote: »

Perth feels like it's got another few years of investment boom yet, we'll see what happens then. Mining has a history of boom and bust but there is generally a steady flow of work there. Mining is also a high burnout industry, not many are suited to it long term.

Perth is going nuts, and to a lesser extent Sydney too. House prices rising again and rents going through the roof. The bubble is bursting in the other cities but Perth especially is having a new housing boom, and talk of a housing shortage of nearly 100,000 (sound familiar?!)...

Perth housing shortage to balloon to 90,000

The RBA cut interest rates again yesterday and the banks have mostly passed it on, which is only going to fire up the bubble even more! Looks like the Aussies didn't learn anything from Ireland, Spain, USA etc.

No6

I am in regional WA and it looks to me like things are slowing down a bit in the mines, some of the commentary you hear about the economy is very reminiscent of the ****e we had in Ireland a few years ago, its like deja vu!! When they start talking of soft landings you know the whole thing is screwed!!:D

Diddler82

TKline wrote: »

Perth is going nuts, and to a lesser extent Sydney too. House prices rising again and rents going through the roof. The bubble is bursting in the other cities but Perth especially is having a new housing boom, and talk of a housing shortage of nearly 100,000 (sound familiar?!)...

Perth housing shortage to balloon to 90,000

The RBA cut interest rates again yesterday and the banks have mostly passed it on, which is only going to fire up the bubble even more! Looks like the Aussies didn't learn anything from Ireland, Spain, USA etc.

Yawn.

They don't have to learning anything from us, completely different set of economic circumstances. Not going to discuss further .. what happened us will not happen them. Their banks are among the most profitable and stable in the world.

Please do your research before spouting out that old cliche.

6ix

Diddler82 wrote: »

Their banks are among the most profitable and stable in the world.

Please do your research before spouting out that old cliche.

I'll be the first to say that I know very little about economics or how stable the banks are, but seeing as you mentioned the banks - I read the following statement from S & P's primary credit analyst for Australia recently:

“The banks are highly indebted, they’re highly leveraged, they are the main vehicle Australia uses to fund its current account deficit…Australia has, as we see it, got some credit metrics that are right off the scale when it comes to assessing Australia’s external position…It’s got high levels of liabilities, it’s got very weak external liquidity and that basically means the banks are highly indebted compared to their peers…They’re benefiting from a safe haven at the moment – nonetheless investor sentiment can turn very quickly…We just worry that at some point, the people who are funding the Australian banks may decide that enough is enough and may begin to lose confidence in the bank’s ability to roll over their debt…That would come through a weakening in Australia’s major trading partners flowing through to a dramatic weakening in Australia’s fiscal position.”

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/11/sp-declares-australia-a-one-trick-pony/

tfarrell

Im in Brisbane, fully qualifed carpenter / foreman. Its definitely slowing down over here. I dont know anything bout the economy or whats in store but its getting tight in my line of work in Brisbane.

catbear

For all the demand for housing in Perth 10% of the stock is empty.

Of Perth’s total stock of 693,327 private dwellings in 2011, 9.12 per cent were unoccupied, similar to the major city average of 9.16 per cent.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure/mcu/soac/files/factsheets_2012/Perth_Final_Factsheet_FA.pdf
I've talked with people who own property but leave it idle because they don't want the hassle of renting it out. Nuts! They say they'll sell them when they need the money for their retirement. With so many baby boomers heading for retirement soon I won't be surprised if the market gets swamped with these empties.

swimming in a sea

Diddler82 wrote: »

Their banks are among the most profitable and stable in the world.

Please do your research before spouting out that old cliche.

Oh goodness you criticize the other guy by making your own terrible comment,

Maybe you should research a bank called Anglo Irish Bank, it was an immensely profitable bank which was part of the booming AAA Rated Irish banking system.

markymark21

Restaurant industry is fairly strong in Melbourne. Even on Mondays and Tuesdays the decent restaurant are doing well - hell even poor ones seem to be busy. Although there does seem to be too many of them. St Kilda would be a good example of this. There's heaps of available leases in around Fitzroy Street which are failed restaurants.

I think in Melbourne there's a fail proof system of running a restaurant. If you do Tapa's/share plates/ Tacos, have "cool staff", $18 cocktails and play the velvet underground; your guaranteed to get the punters in...regardless of quality

Doc

markymark21 wrote: »

I think in Melbourne there's a fail proof system of running a restaurant. If you do Tapa's/share plates/ Tacos, have "cool staff", $18 cocktails and play the velvet underground; your guaranteed to get the punters in...regardless of quality

Only for 2 -3 weeks then they will move on to the next flavor of the month.