And they don't build Snowy schemes or SEC power stations anymore, highways are sold off and tolled and water supply is a tax collection mechanism - cost of living crisis anyone? Don't worry we've been working hard to make it happen for years. Remember when income could buy a home and support a family?
After the federal election we can be sure that the ratio of public servants to the popultion will increase. Also the tax take from the population will increase to fund this increase.
It should be noted delivery of public services is also influenced by geographical size, policies, population size, demographics, GDP and climate (for health) amongst other things. it takes the same resources to deliver infrastructure and many services an area regardless of population density - verge mowing, road maintenance, electricity grid infrastructure, gas pipelines, garbage collection - why council amalgamations in Australia don’t yield savings other than in general administration functions.
on a public sector worker per square km basis, Australia comes in at 0.5 and the US 2.2 workers per square kilometre. If you adjusted Australia’s to account for some vast areas of uninhabited land you might find we are on or above par with the US. Population density is also why EVs might work well in some countries and not in Australia (eg, installing charge stations across dense vs vast areas).
Neither Workers per square kilometre or per 1000 population are ultimate measures. Every variable needs to he taken into account.
Economically, the most telling statistic is government as a percentage of the economy (Australia is 28% of GDP) and how much of GDP growth is attributable to Govt. In 23-24 over half of Australia’s GDP Growth was from new Government spending. The devil is in the detail.
None of this is to advocate more public sector workers. The Australian Public Sector is too big in my view and government participation (in the economy) too high. Or our population is just too small for the services we want everywhere. This crowds out private enterprise, innovation and distorts measures used to indicate economic health. Government is usually the last to react to a change in economic circumstances, so to have a very large public service is to have a dull responses to shocks and growth opportunities.
And they don't build Snowy schemes or SEC power stations anymore, highways are sold off and tolled and water supply is a tax collection mechanism - cost of living crisis anyone? Don't worry we've been working hard to make it happen for years. Remember when income could buy a home and support a family?
After the federal election we can be sure that the ratio of public servants to the popultion will increase. Also the tax take from the population will increase to fund this increase.
Well at least we're first at something!!
Some great data there.
It should be noted delivery of public services is also influenced by geographical size, policies, population size, demographics, GDP and climate (for health) amongst other things. it takes the same resources to deliver infrastructure and many services an area regardless of population density - verge mowing, road maintenance, electricity grid infrastructure, gas pipelines, garbage collection - why council amalgamations in Australia don’t yield savings other than in general administration functions.
on a public sector worker per square km basis, Australia comes in at 0.5 and the US 2.2 workers per square kilometre. If you adjusted Australia’s to account for some vast areas of uninhabited land you might find we are on or above par with the US. Population density is also why EVs might work well in some countries and not in Australia (eg, installing charge stations across dense vs vast areas).
Neither Workers per square kilometre or per 1000 population are ultimate measures. Every variable needs to he taken into account.
Economically, the most telling statistic is government as a percentage of the economy (Australia is 28% of GDP) and how much of GDP growth is attributable to Govt. In 23-24 over half of Australia’s GDP Growth was from new Government spending. The devil is in the detail.
None of this is to advocate more public sector workers. The Australian Public Sector is too big in my view and government participation (in the economy) too high. Or our population is just too small for the services we want everywhere. This crowds out private enterprise, innovation and distorts measures used to indicate economic health. Government is usually the last to react to a change in economic circumstances, so to have a very large public service is to have a dull responses to shocks and growth opportunities.
great data - thank you, in spite of the depressing nature