Weekly Update 20.05.22: lowest unemployment in 48 years

“3.9 per cent is the lowest the unemployment rate has been in the monthly survey. The last time the unemployment rate was lower than this was in August 1974, when the survey was quarterly.”

Bjorn Jarvis, Head, ABS Labour Statistics

Parliamentary Update:

• Published polling has showed a narrowing between the two major parties as the 2022 Federal Election draws to a close. The Coalition’s super-for-housing policy provided a significant point of differentiation and sparked significant public discussion.
• Early voting has again gained in popularity which may delay results in some close seats. Approximately 4 million electors have already voted at an early voting centre.
• New legislation will allow early in-person votes to be opened and sorted from 4pm and counted from 6pm on the same day.
• 2.68 million postal vote applications have also been received by the AEC. This is up from 1.5 million in 2019. The AEC will count a small amount of postal votes on Sunday, with most of the postal count substantially commencing on Monday. Key dates:
  • Saturday, 21 May – Counting of votes (on-the-day and prepoll in-person votes)
  • Sunday, 22 May – Some postal vote counts started
  • Monday, 23 May – All postal vote counting commences
  • Friday, 3 June – Last day for receipt of postal votes
  • Tuesday, 28 June – Return of writs

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Regulatory Update: 

• ASIC is alerting investors of the existence of a number of fake green bonds. In Australia, green bonds are not directly available to the general public or retail investors. Any website or entity claiming otherwise is a scam.
• When APRA Chair Wayne Byres spoke at last week’s FINSIA event, he said  the regulator would “continue to pay special attention to residential mortgage portfolios and housing lending standards”.
• The UK Government announced a new Financial Services and Markets Bill. Under the new law, UK banks can be required to reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud.

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