AI-mageddon. Iran war. The headwinds against the economy are building
Australia's labour market has, by most conventional measures, held up admirably well. The unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in March, a figure that would have drawn envy from most advanced economies a decade ago. Yet beneath that headline number, a more unsettling picture is forming - one that HR professionals may be uniquely positioned to see, and uniquely responsible for addressing.
Two forces are converging at once: a deteriorating global economy, and an artificial intelligence revolution that is already reshaping the composition of work in the United States and beginning to do so here. Neither alone would be cause for alarm. Together, they could present the most significant workforce challenge Australia has faced in a generation.
The fiscal backdrop matters. The upcoming federal budget will reflect tougher economic conditions - including slower growth, lower employment, and increasingly expensive exports - with revenue predictions downgraded due to global economic volatility. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has made clear that restraint, not stimulus, will define the May budget, as spending pressures in defence, health and disaster response absorb fiscal headroom that might otherwise support workers in transition.
That matters for HR leaders because government support - retraining programmes, transitional income schemes, wage subsidies - will be harder to access and slower to arrive when...
Russian military command has been lying for the fifth month in a row about battlefield “successes,” claiming that Russian forces are advancing west of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. However, this...