Lifting productivity growth looms as Australia’s most immediate challenge this year, according to CEDA, which has singled out infrastructure and construction as sectors in need of shaping up.
Lifting productivity growth looms as Australia’s most immediate challenge this year, according to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, which has singled out infrastructure and construction as sectors in need of shaping up.
The committee’s latest economic and policy outlook indicates national economic conditions are expected to rebound strongly in the second half of the year, as most of the country overcomes rampant spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Wage and cost pressure are expected to persist, though, with unemployment expected to further dip below 4 per cent by the end of the year.
That means an increased focus on productivity growth, with CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento calling for streamlining of skilled migration, education and training to reach that goal.’
“To increase productivity, Australia needs measures that facilitate greater mobility of workers,” Melinda Cilento, CEDA’s chief executive, said.
“Australian businesses should be supported to leverage the benefits of technology and with emerging technologies designed, developed and used in the public interest.”
Ms Cilento’s comments come just a fortnight after RBA governor Philip Lowe told National Press Club that anaemic productivity growth, along with inflation, were Australia’s main economic challenges headed into 2022.
Mr Lowe opined that greater investment in workforce skills and technologies were needed to generate sustained increases in real wages.
Most recent federal budget papers indicate workers can expect real wage decreases until the middle of the decade.
And while CEDA’s report noted that productivity growth as a whole lagged the long-run average, chief economist Jarrod Ball and senior economist Cassandra Winzar noted Australia’s infrastructure and construction sectors had been long-term laggards on this front.
They suggested better coordination of the project pipeline, better collaboration, utilisation of digital tools in the whole-of-project lifecycle, and better government standards as a solution.
“Major public infrastructure investment is at historically high levels and still to peak in 2023,” Ms Cilento said.
“This should be used as an opportunity for governments to unlock greater productivity in delivery.
“Areas for improvement include greater transparency and coordination of the project pipeline; more collaborative models of infrastructure delivery; and better utilisation of data and digital tools across the whole project life cycle.”
