Luci Ellis, Assistant Governor (Economic) at the Reserve Bank of Australia
Speech is titled: 'What's Up (and Down) with Households?'
Main points (via Reuters headlines)
- watching labour market developments closely
- labour market has unambiguously improved
- can be reasonably confident in the strength of labour market data
- says strength is shown in multiple, independently collected data sets
- says many of our own liaison contacts tell us that they are hiring
- still a little way off unemployment level that would drive materially faster wages
- weak income growth weighing on household consumption
- falling house prices may have impacted spending on vehicles, household goods
- tax revenue from households has grown solidly despite slow income growth
- growth in tax paid has exceeded income growth for past six years
- progress in tax collection have boosted revenue collected from a given income
- says some of the drags on income not likely to be permanent
Full text: What's Up (and Down) With Households?
Pretty upbeat comments from Ellis here on employment. Less so on household spending … and that final one …. some of the drags on income not likely to be permanent (bolding mine) is reason to be a bit wary indeed.