Economic Perspective 25 September 2026
The Latest Trending Economic News Curated for You by Balmoral Group Australia
Hello Dear Readers,
The 2024 edition of the Houshold, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey was released this week, finding that Australians are over-educated relative to their jobs, and age gaps in education and mental health are widening, among other findings. Additionally, new visa restrictions may limit the backpacker farm-work which many farmers have come to rely on, especially during harvest season, and Waste Expo Australia and the Greener Infrastructure Conference will both be held in late October to discuss policy and commercial and infrastructure questions.
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Happy reading and have a lovely weekend!
Happy reading and have a lovely weekend!
HILDA: the ups and downs of Australian life
HILDA has followed more than 17,000 Australians every year since 2001, and its 2024 data has just been released. Young people are faring worst. Mental health has fallen for women in most age groups, especially those aged 15 to 24, and cognitive test scores have dropped for 15–24-year-olds, while people aged 45 and over improved. 85 per cent of 18–21-year-olds now live with their parents. Only 13 per cent of 18–64-year-olds receive income support, down from 24 per cent in 2001. Mothers took more than four months of parental leave on average, compared with four weeks for fathers. The gender pay gap persists, and food insecurity and housing stress are rising, particularly for single parents. Read more here.
Are Australians really overeducated?
In 2024, 49.5% of workers aged 18–64 were "overeducated", meaning they held higher qualifications than they felt their job required. Another 25.7% said they were overskilled. Overeducation was highest among labourers, sales workers, machine operators and care workers, and tends to last: 65% of overeducated workers are still overeducated four years later. The mismatch is linked to lower job and life satisfaction, and overeducation coincides with government targets for even more degrees, aiming for 80% of adults to hold a tertiary qualification by 2050, up from 60% today. Read more here.
'I want a visa, so I have to do farm work': how new visa rules will hit regional Australia
Immigration Minister Tony Burke has announced a ballot for backpackers who want to stay longer than a year. The number of second-year visas will be cut from 57,000 to 45,000 and third-year visas from 31,000 to 5,000, a reduction of 38,000 places. A new three-month processing delay elicited warnings from the National Farmers' Federation that it could cost farmers their harvests, as backpackers currently make up about one in seven farm jobs, and farmers are especially dependent on backpackers during harvest season. Read more here.
Making waste and infrastructure work harder
The Western Irrigation Network (WIN) project has now completed its first stage. The network will supply 2.4 billion litres of recycled water to farms west of Melbourne in its first year, irrigating around 1,500 hectares of farmland near bacchus Marsh. The $116 million project built 28 kilometres of pipeline connected the Melton Recycled Water Plant to farmland, as well as 3 transfer pumping stations and a one-billion-litre winter storage dam. The network aims to improve agricultural drought resistance. Read more here.
Mental health has declined for young women
The graph below from the ABC shows HILDA survey results for mean self-reported mental health quality between 2001 and 2024. The striking pattern shows mental health declines are most severe for young people (the figures for young men are similar), and less severe for older groups. Men aged 65 and over reported the highest mental health of all demographic groups in 2024. The data suggests that recent socioeconomic strife and social media is strongly impacting youth.
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