Australian Budget 2017/2018 – How will it affect your industry?

10/05/2017

Last night, the federal government released the 2017-2018 budget, with its major focuses being sustainable economic growth, employment and essential services. The new budget seeks to tackle cost of living, build infrastructure and invest in regional Australia.

While much of the budget analysis is still out, there are some interesting insights we can pull from what’s been released so far.

Here’s how the new budget will impact employment across a number of industries in Australia:

How will the budget impact employment in general?

The government has put wages and jobs growth as a centrepiece for this year’s budget, promising ‘more and better paying jobs’. The plan to deliver this mainly focuses on a combination of tax cuts and concessions for SMEs, which is expected to reduce the burden on as many as 3.2 million small businesses that employ 6.7 million workers, in the hopes that this would have a flow-on effect for wages.

As the government has also announced that it intends to abolish 457 visas and replace them with short-term skills shortage visas, this will have repercussions for many industries including IT, hospitality and leisure.

How will the 2017 – 2018 budget impact Manufacturing jobs?

The government’s defence industry plan promises to create jobs for Australians in the manufacturing industry. It includes a continuous shipbuilding program, which is promised to create 5,200 ongoing advanced manufacturing jobs, with knock-on effects across the supply chain; similarly, 5,000 jobs are promised with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

How the new budget will impact the Finance industry

The finance sector may be set for changes as the budget proposes a series of measures to encourage innovation in the FinTech industry, including new legislation that would allow crowd-sourced equity funding, tax concessions for start-ups and angel investors, and reducing barriers to licensing of finance firms.

The traditional banking sector could see more competition arising from these changes, and there could well be a increase in demand for top finance talent as a result.

New budget has implications for the construction industry

Some major infrastructure projects will receive cash injections under this budget, which will likely have a knock-on effect for the construction industry. $5.6 billion has been pledged to create a Western Sydney Airport Co that would oversee the development of the new airport at Badgerys Creek from the end of 2018. Meanwhile, $10 billion will go to the creation of a National Rail Program, which would look to improve rail across the country; an additional $8.4 billion will go towards a Melbourne-Brisbane rail link, which would boost regional Australia.

These plans are all positive news for construction industry jobs at all levels; the completion of these projects would also create a ripple effect that will allow people and goods to move with greater ease across the country.

Have questions about what the new budget might mean for you? Get in touch with a Michael Page specialist today.

Summary:

The government has released its budget for 2017 - 2018, which promises to:

· Create more and better paid jobs

· Create manufacturing jobs through its defence program

· Invest in FinTech to create a hub for innovation

· Invest in infrastructure that would grow regional Australia