Focus on WA
Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building for the future
The latest report in the BCEC Focus on WA report series, Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building for the future, compares housing affordability in WA to other jurisdictions for both homeowners and renters to get a sense of where WA sits. This... Read article
Bridging the Gap: Population, skills and labour market adjustment in WA
This sixteenth report in the Focus on WA series takes a rigorous look at skills shortages and labour market dynamics in the WA labour market and provides a fresh conceptual look at what skills shortages are, new empirical evidence on... Read article
Housing Affordability in WA: A tale of two tenures
This report by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre focuses on housing affordability and features findings from the fourth BCEC Housing Affordability Survey of 4,000 households across Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. This fifteenth report in BCEC’s Focus on WA... Read article
Back in Business? WA Small Businesses and the Impact of COVID-19
The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across the economy and business sector, but for small businesses these shocks can be more challenging to deal with, with fewer resources to draw from. The latest lockdown is a set-back for WA’s... Read article
The Early Years: Investing in our Future
This latest report in the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s Focus on Western Australia series, the thirteenth in this series, looks to add to our understanding of the lives of young children in Australia, the environment within which they live and... Read article
Getting our house in order?
This report by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre focuses on housing affordability, one of the most important economic and social issues facing Western Australia, and indeed the country. This twelfth report in BCEC’s Focus on WA series builds on the Centre’s earlier... Read article
Falling Through the Net
New data technologies, big data analytics and intelligent software systems are transforming the way we produce, consume or distribute commodities, and increasingly, the way we access services. They are also changing the way in which we engage with our personal, social and business... Read article
The Price is Right?
The Western Australian economy has experienced something of a roller-coaster ride over the last decade. Unprecedented economic growth over the course of the resources boom has been followed by a post-boom period during which activity has cooled. Despite a reduction in demand in... Read article
The Engine Room for Growth?
The 2015 Federal Budget referred to small businesses as the ‘engine room’ of the economy. Australia’s changing economic landscape means that governments are placing greater emphasis on the important role of small businesses for growth and employment. This is not... Read article
Back to the future: Western Australia’s economic future after the boom
In 2014 the first report in the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s Focus on Western Australia series highlighted the abnormally high growth rate enjoyed by the state in the early years of the new millennium. This extended period of economic growth was driven primarily... Read article
Keeping a roof over our heads
Housing cost pressures continue to dominate as a key concern among Western Australian households, despite a general shift towards more favourable housing market conditions in Western Australia in recent years. Housing affordability estimates have not trended in the same direction... Read article
Securing our Future
Western Australia’s population is growing older. The median age of West Australians is set to increase from 36 years today to 40 years by 2050. During that time the proportion of West Australians aged 65 and over is projected to... Read article
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright?
There is a general sense of unease with the recent slowdown in China’s economic growth. Large businesses and the State’s finances have suffered as a result. But is China the ‘be all and end all’ of the focus on Western... Read article
The Costs of Doing Business in WA
The cost of doing business in Western Australia has long been a rhetoric heard and discussed throughout the state, with increased economic activity in recent times exacerbating the issue. The geography of the state, with its capital – Perth, one... Read article
Workforce and Skills
The resources industry has been the driving force behind Western Australia’s remarkable economic trajectory over the last two decades, delivering billions of tonnes of iron ore to steel mills around the world. WA has prospered, wages have soared and unemployment... Read article
Housing Affordability
The cost of housing in Western Australia has been a recurrent theme in discussions in West Australian homes, businesses and the policy environment. A long held perception is that housing affordability in the state has spiralled out of control, with... Read article
Sharing the Boom
Along with its relaxed lifestyle and beautiful beaches, Western Australia is arguably most recognised for the riches to be found under its red earth and clear blue oceans. International demand for iron ore, and the strength of China as a... Read article