Simon Kuestenmacher

Melbourne

German #geographer and #demographer in #Melbourne. I curate #maps and #data that explain how the #world works. Obviously all opinions are my own...

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Articles

Life begins at 40 and Australia is adding millions of 40-somethings

1 week ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

I’m 41 now, when I first read Carl Jung’s famous quote below I was in my teens. I always liked the idea of life improving, becoming more interesting when you age. “Life really begins at 40. Until then, you are just doing research”. Carl Jung, 1875-1961 Most of your abilities don’t peak in your early years as I pointed out in a previous column. Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist, believed that human life unfolds in two halves. Each half has its own important purpose.
The Australians hardest hit by our mental health problem

2 weeks ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

When I am not busy writing columns for you, I travel around Australia where I explain at conferences what an industry, region, or company looks like through the demographic lens. I speak at well over 100 of such events each year and these days two topics are always on the agenda – AI and mental health. Two-and-a-half years ago I wrote a column on mental health based on Census 2021 data available to us.
Downsizing is a win-win, but are Baby Boomers actually doing it?

3 weeks ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

Every now and then, a column topic comes along that perfectly illustrates the collision between personal lifestyle choices, public policy, and our national demographic challenges. Downsizing in retirement is one such topic. In theory, it’s a no-brainer, a true win-win. Retirees move to more suitable, easier manageable homes in walkable neighbourhoods, collect a good sales price for their old home, and in doing so, free up a larger dwelling in the commuting belt for a younger family.
Australia's economy since 1966 explained in one simple chart

1 month ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

The squiggly line below displays our national unemployment rate and tells the story of the Australian economy over the last six decades. We went from super-low figures in the 1960s to volatile swings in the 1980s and 1990s, to stable 2010s – and might go back to 1960s figures again in a decade. Each major shift has been driven by demographics, macroeconomic jolts, technology and even political decisions. Let’s take a closer look at Australia’s economic history throughout the decades together.
Australia desperately needs new housing, but it's often not wanted

1 month ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

Our largest cities have been adding population at high rates for almost two decades. This made housing affordability the most pressing issue in these cities. Major policy reform (killing stamp duty to introduce a land tax, negative gearing reform, a state-owned housing developer) seem off the table and the political consensus seems that more housing supply is the only way forward.
The challenge of creating more health and education workers

1 month ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

Last week’s column showed that healthcare and education were the two industries that saw the strongest job growth since the start of the pandemic. I made the argument that, while essential for the longevity of the country, these two industries are not driving the economy directly. Regular readers of this column will also be familiar with the fact that, despite high migration rates, Australia is fast running out of workers.
more caring but less productive

1 month ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

In previous columns I described the consequences of Australia running out of workers. We lose a big cohort of Baby Boomers to retirement this decade, while a relatively smaller cohort of Gen Zs enters the workforce. At the same time the biggest generation, Millennials, continues to make babies and goes on parental leave for at least some time. Our workforce (see chart below) wants to continue its expansion, but demographics make the continued rise a more challenging story.
There's a looming driver shortage and we need to start planning

1 month ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

We often talk about bottlenecks when discussing traffic – a wide road merges into fewer lanes, the flow of traffic slows and congestion increases. Besides physical bottlenecks our traffic system faces severe human bottlenecks too. We are facing a massive shortage of bus drivers and truck drivers that planners on all levels must be made aware of and adjust their strategies.
Australia's migration intake shifts toward students and workers

2 months ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

I didn’t plan on writing a migration column this week, but sometimes the data gods (or the Australian Bureau of Statistics) bestow a generous gift on humble researchers and plans must be adjusted. The best tool the ABS offers is called TableBuilder and allows users to ask questions from a complex dataset to build individualised tables. Last week migration data was added to TableBuilder for the first time. Let’s ask a few questions of the data.
The power of NEAT and our two-wheeled time machines

2 months ago | thenewdaily.com.au | Simon Kuestenmacher

In last week’s column I claimed to have been in a time machine as I spent time on a campground with the demographic setup of the 1960s and travelled on a plane to Noosa where the passengers resembled the aging future of Australia. I closed the column by stating that while using the metaphorical time machine was fun, I’d rather have an actual time machine. When I stepped into the garage yesterday to start building a time machine, I was stunned to see an actual working time machine already there.