Election 2015: Queensland economy analysed

Griffith's Fabrizio Carmignani on a bench with iPad in hand.
Professor Fabrizio Carmignani says a market that values a business education is evident and good news for current and future students.

As the Queensland election campaign approaches full tilt, with claims and counter claims in abundance, one Griffith University researcher has cut through the political rhetoric to analyse some hard stats.

Professor Fabrizio Carmignani, Head of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Griffith Business School, has cast the forensic eye of an economist on the state’s wellbeing under the LNP government and compared this analysis with the terms immediately before the Newman era when Anna Bligh led a Labor Party government.

In a column published by The Conversation this week, Professor Carmignani says Queensland’s economy has fared worse over the past three years than it might appear at first.

“Data on growth and employment indicate that the Queensland economy might be doing less well than expected,” he says.

“While Gross Domestic Product growth is very close to the Australian average, Gross Domestic Income growth between June 2013 and June 2014 has been negative and well below Australian average.”

The distinction between Gross Domestic Product and Gross Domestic Income was among some prominent themes to emerge when Professor Carmignani responded to queries from readers of The Conversation in an online Q&A session. Another was youth unemployment.

“The number of people employed has grown by on average 970 units a month in the last three years, but many of these new jobs are part-time,” Professor Carmignani says.

“Moreover, unemployment has also grown and the overall rate of unemployment is today among the highest in the country. Particularly worrying are some local situations, like Cairns where youth unemployment has reached a peak of more than 20%.

“Overall, a comparison between the Newman Government and Anna Bligh’s government suggests thatQLD economic performance under LNP is not systematically better, and in fact it is in several respects worse than it was under ALP.”