New link in the sidebar: Business Insider

I have just added my first new link for well over 12 months into the sidebar. I have added the Business Insider site. As the name might suggest, the Business Insider site is a finance site reporting on the finances and the general economy in Australia.

I find as I get older, and closer to possible retirement, I am becoming more and more interested in economics. Australian economics in particular. Probably because just about every time I check my superannuation balance these days it is always going in the wrong direction—down. Despite the fact that 9 percent of my pay goes into it every month. Even with this it has still tended down over the last 8 to 10 months.

Following is an example from the Business Insider today.

This article is about the average wage for Australians as it was in November 2015.

As you can see, Mining was far and away the top payer in November 2015 where the average weekly wage for full time employment was $2,500 or about $130,000 per year before tax.

A similar survey done for November 2016 is likely to show a much different picture. Wages for mining workers is expected to fall by 15 to 20 percent by the end of the year—for those mining workers that still have a job.

If this works out as predicted than the average wage for miners will drop to around $1,800 per week or about $95,000 per year. This is then expected to put some pressure on the housing market as people begin to get into repayment difficulty.