South Australia’s strong economic rebound from COVID-19 continues to gather momentum, with latest ABS data showing the state has retained its nation-leading status for total jobs growth since the depths of the pandemic.
And SA outperforms every other state and territory, except Western Australia, for the total value of employee wages paid since the COVID low point (April 18, 2020) – rising 9.8 per cent, compared to 7.8 per cent nationally.
Total employee jobs in SA increased by a nation-leading 11.3 per cent in the ten months since April 18 - above the national average of 9 per cent, according to the ABS Labour Force: Single Touch Payroll data released this week.
Treasurer Rob Lucas welcomed the figures as another positive sign of a rebounding local economy – with business conditions and confidence also high in recent independent surveys.
“While monthly Labour Force .....
Brisbane: The Palaszczuk Government has extended financial support for Cairns tourism businesses.
Reef fleet operators at the Cairns Marlin Marina have received fee relief since February 2020, with the latest extension pushing that support out to mid-2022.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said continuing rebates until mid-2022 would amount to more than $10 million in financial assistance provided to reef fleet operators and port tenants since the pandemic began.
“Sectors of our economy are faring extremely well thanks to our strong health response but without international visitors, Queensland’s tourist industry will continue to need support,” the Premier said.
“More than 800,000 overseas visitors contributed more than $1 billion to the Far North economy before international borders shut due to COVID-19.
“With the Prime Minister set to cut off JobKeeper on March 28,.....
Beijing: China's exports surged 60.6 per cent over a year earlier in the first two months of 2021, after factories reopened and global demand started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Exports rose to USD 468.9 billion, customs data showed Sunday, accelerating from December's 18.1 per cent gain and nearly double the growth expected by forecasters. Imports jumped 22.2 per cent to USD 365.6 billion, up from December's 6.5 per cent increase.
Chinese authorities combine trade data for the first two months to compensate for fluctuations due to the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls at different times each year in January or February. Factories shut down for up to two weeks, then restock after they reopen.
Exporters benefited from the relatively early reopening of China's economy after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the disease last March while foreign compet.....
Washington: No news conference. No Oval Office address. No prime time speech to a joint session of Congress.
President Joe Biden is the first executive in four decades to reach this point in his term without holding a formal question and answer session.
It reflects a White House media strategy meant both to reserve major media set-pieces for the celebration of a legislative victory and to limit unforced errors from a historically gaffe-prone politician.
Biden has opted to take questions about as often as most of his recent predecessors, but he tends to field just one or two informal inquiries at a time, usually in a hurried setting at the end of an event.
In a sharp contrast with the previous administration, the White House is exerting extreme message discipline, empowering staff to speak but doing so with caution.
Recalling both Biden's largely leak-free campaign and the.....
New Delhi: India's services activity expanded at the fastest rate in a year during February, while employment fell further and companies noted the sharpest rise in overall expenses, a monthly survey said on Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index rose from 52.8 in January to 55.3 in February, pointing to the sharpest rate of expansion in output in a year amid improved demand and more favourable market conditions.
The index was above the critical 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for the fifth month in a row during February as the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines led to an improvement in business confidence towards growth prospects.
While, new work intakes expanded for the fifth straight month, panellists continued to indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions curbed international demand for their services.
"New expo.....
Canberra: The Australian Government welcomes the Final Report from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which has today been tabled in Parliament, noting its significant and sweeping proposals for reform of the aged care sector.
As a country it is important that we all acknowledge that we need to do more to ensure senior Australians are treated with respect, care and dignity and have access to quality care as they age.
The Royal Commission’s Final Report recognises the immense effort of our nurses and carers but also brings the challenges of aged care services into clear focus. The Government is committed to transforming aged care and the Royal Commission’s monumental report, with 148 recommendations, delivers a challenging, but achievable road to reform.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said it was clear from the Royal Commission’s work that while signif.....
Canberra: The Morrison Government is enhancing our social security safety net by increasing support for unemployed Australians while strengthening their obligations to search for work.
From March the Coalition Government will progressively introduce a series of permanent measures to ensure that job seekers have the best opportunity to secure employment as our nation continues to recover from the economic challenges of COVID-19.
These include:
permanently increasing the rate of working-age payments by $50 a fortnight from 1 April 2021, benefiting 1.95 million Australians;
permanently increasing the income-free earnings to $150 per fortnight for JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance (other) from 1 April 2021;
temporarily extending the waiver of the Ordinary Waiting Period for certain payments for a further three months to 30 June 2021;
temporarily extending the expanded.....
ప్రాథమిక స్థాయిలో బోధనా మాధ్యమంగా మాతృభాషకు ప్రాధాన్యత పెంచాలని ఉపరాష్ట్రపతి శ్రీ ముప్పవరపు వెంకయ్య నాయుడు పిలుపునిచ్చారు. ఇంట్లో పెద్దలు మాట్లాడుకోని భాషలో ప్రాథమిక దశలో విద్యను నేర్చుకోవడం పిల్లల ఉన్నతికి అవరోధంగా మారుతుందని తెలిపారు. ఈ సందర్భంగా వివిధ అధ్యయనాలను ప్రస్తావించిన ఉపరాష్ట్రపతి, ప్రాథమిక దశలో మాతృభాషలో సాగే విద.....
Washington: India, which has one per cent of the world's vehicles, accounts for 10 per cent of all road crash victims, the latest World Bank report on road safety said on Saturday.
Hartwig Schafer, World Bank's Vice President for South Asia, said the Indian government in recent years has taken significant steps to address the issues related to road safety.
For India, it's one per cent of the world's vehicles and 10 per cent of the crash victims. This is something where, in particular in India, we have to pay attention, Schafer told PTI in an interview on the occasion of the release of the report on road safety in New Delhi on Saturday.
While the attention in the last year has shifted due to COVID-19, there is an interesting link between road safety and pandemic right now, he noted.
Unfortunately, the road crashes have not been going down and any time 10 per cent of the capaci.....
New Delhi: The Ministry of Labour and Employment has finalised rules under the four labour codes paving the way for making reforms a reality by notifying those for implementation soon.
The four broad codes on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety, health & working conditions (OSH) have already been notified after getting the President's assent. But for implementing these four codes, the rules need to be notified.
Now the ministry has completed the process of consultation on draft rules on the four codes and firmed up those for notification.
Talking to PTI, Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra said, "We have finalised the rules under the four codes which are required to implement the four labour codes. We are ready to notify these rules. The states are doing their work to firm up rules under the four codes."
Parliament had passed four codes on four br.....
Experts on Monday scrambled to understand the reasons for the avalanche and floods that have wreaked havoc in the upper reaches of the Himalayas.
Global warming or maybe a Western disturbance bringing fresh snow that melted could have triggered the inundation in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, experts said on Monday as they scrambled to understand the reasons for the avalanche and floods that wreaked havoc in the upper reaches of the Himalayas.
Recalling the horrors of the 2013 deluge in the hill state in which thousands were killed, a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off at Joshimath on Sunday, leading to a massive flood in the Alaknanda river system. Till late afternoon Monday, 18 bodies had been recovered and 202 were missing.
The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation is investigating the exact reason for the fl.....
Electric automaker Tesla said that it has invested around USD 1.5 billion in Bitcoin and it plans to begin accepting the digital currency as payment for its high-end vehicles soon. The price of Bitcoin soared 15.4 per cent to around USD 44,500 Monday in reaction to Tesla’s announcement, according to CoinBase. The California-based electric car maker headed by Elon Musk revealed the new strategy in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, saying its investment in digital currency and other alternative reserve assets may grow. Bitcoin has drawn enthusiasts for its scarcity and security, but the volatile digital currency still is not widely used to pay for goods and services. It’s mostly been a store of value, like gold, with some limited merchants like Overstock accepting bitcoin for payment. It’s also used by those distrustful of the banking system or criminals seekin.....