The recession is still here, according to wages and building statistics issued yesterday.
The value of non-residential building starts was down 18.2 per cent from the June to the September quarters 1992. Non-residential starts are at their lowest since the September quarter 1984. They are down 30.3 per cent on the same quarter the previous year.
The value of work done on non-residential building fell 10.1 per cent June to September and has been consistently down since the September 1989 quarter, with one small exception.
The figures were issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The residential picture was brighter: starts up 1.2 per cent and work done up 8.0 per cent June to September. Residential was 26.1 per cent up on the September quarter the previous year.
Economists have frequently argued that over investment in housing stock is detracting from more productive investment elsewhere. For the past year the total value of residential building (starts and work done) have surpassed that of non-residential building.
Office building has been hit hardest, with starts down 61 per cent on the previous September quarter.
The bureau also issued wages figures yesterday which show that women’s pay is growing faster than men’s, though the growth for both over the past year is lower than the average in the past six years.
Wages increased 2.4 per cent in the 13 months to August, compared with an average annual rise of 5.2 per cent in the previous six years.
More people are moving to part-time work. In August 1986 18 per cent of employees were part-time, in 1992 it was 24 per cent. The proportion of females working part-time has gone up 3 per cent in the 13 months to August to 42 per cent. (The 13-month period is due to a survey quirk.)
Female part-time wages (5.0 per cent) went up substantially more than part-time male wages (1.0 per cent) in the 13 months. Full-time female wages went up 4.32 per cent to $489 and males up 3.38 per cent to $591.
Over the past six years female wages were up 6.6 per cent and male wages 5.9 per cent.