Australia by Numbers

 Vaccination and Covid going gangbusters... A ustralia's Covid-19 vaccination effort is going gangbusters. More than 300k persons per day were being vaccinated in the final week of August. One-third of adults are double vacc'd. This achievement pushes forward the projection for economic opening.   Covid cases also started accelerating recently in New South Wales, the state with one-third of Australia's population. Covid new cases rose daily, alongside vaccinations, hitting 1000 in the last days of August. Lockdown has been the result, and only particular target vaccination levels will remove some of these restrictions. If 70% of the Australian adult population is vaccinated, then national flying will be more or less unrestricted, among other benefits. An 80% adult vaccination level would mean international borders open, with foreign students also being able to enter, with a consequent impact on economic activity and prices. 80% signals that a small number of deaths from Cov

  Australian labour force changes in the Covid-age A u stralian employment to July 2021 was affected by the tumultuous Covid-19 pandemic, which started its economic impact in March 2020. A comparison with February of that year, 17 months earlier, shows total employment is up by nearly 100,000 persons, distributed between full-time and part-time employment. The increase, although welcome, is far smaller than a typical year prior to Covid-19, when the labour force increased by 250,000 per year (largely due to inbound migration).  Unemployment reduced by 128,000. This reduction involved some people entering employment, and some people leaving the workforce (33,000 people). This is shown in the chart. It is not clear if those people permanently left the workforce, or if some of them will return. The total civilian population increased by about 110,000 people. This increase is despite that immigration stopped dead from March 2020, when many working visa holders also left the country. So the

  Everything is accelerating Australia’s vaccination for Covid-19 is accelerating and so are Covid cases in New South Wales, with Australia's largest state population.  Australia was slow to begin Covid vaccinations, by first world standards. Israel started in January of 2020. Now Australia is playing catch-up. This process has become urgent, as Australia's zero cases policy was punctured by a breakout of cases in NSW in July. Case numbers in mid-August in NSW have exceeded 400 a day, and still show no signs of slowing.  Daily average full vaccinations in Australia exceeded 0.4% of the population in mid August. In other words, every two days, almost one more percent of the total population is fully vaccinated against the virus. At this rate, the country will reach its target of exceeding 65% of the total population being vaccinated by mid November. This is roughly equivalent to 80% of the adult population, a key benchmark. At that point, lockdowns and most restriction should ea

  San Marino be like ... Australia had one of the highest medal counts in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, placing the country 6th in Gold, just behind Russia. The total medal count for Australia, of 46, included 17 Gold, 7 Silver and 22 Bronze. But, for a population of around 25 million, is Australia punching above its weight? Yes, but less than some others.  San Marino, a country or land mass, with a tiny population of 34,000 obtained 3 medals. That means 90 medals per million heads of population. Australia's 46 medals amounts to 1.8 medals per million heads of population. This 'rate of medals' number, puts Australia behind 13 other countries. Most of these countries are very small, and therefore any medal at all may greatly favour their 'rate'. However, the Netherlands, which has a population 2/3 the size of Australia, was also higher, with an impressive total medal count of 36. Sure, none of this really matters. Its the participation that counts. Right? 

  If Australia was like ... Australia came late to Covid-19 vaccination, having successfully isolated since early 2020 from the severe contagion (and deaths) seen in many countries. Up to mid-year 2021, there have been less than 1,000 reported deaths. However, the isolation policy pursued by the Federal government will not be viable or optimal in coming months. The rest of the vaccinated world is opening up, while Australia continues to restrict the entry of foreigners, including tourists, students, and also returning Australians.  An accelerated vaccine drive is now under way, using the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccines. Around 15 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated (1 August), but the level of full vaccination must reach at least 60 percent or higher, before many restrictions will be eased. So when will the country reach that level? The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has his own idea on this.  The chart above gives some indication of the possibilities. A comparison is m