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Simon Kuestenmacher

Simon Kuestenmacher

The Australian

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Do more win than lose when house prices are up?

yesterday 1

The Australian

Simon Kuestenmacher

Why is the education system worse for boys?

Last week’s column discussed the growing number of young men aged 15 to 24 years who are not in employment or full-time education. I made the claim...

05.10.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

The big challenges facing young men

Around the developed world, data shows that young men and women increasingly diverge in their political ideologies. Young men are much more...

29.09.2024 40

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Social media fuels rise in ‘work-image’ issues

A general rule in forecasting says that regulation follows innovation. Outside of medicine, we are first exposed to innovations in a very pure and...

21.09.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

We can learn from far right’s rise in Germany

In two German states, both in the former communist eastern part of Germany, the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany) party won historic amounts of...

14.09.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Our biggest cities diverge on office work trends

Three weeks ago, the NSW Government called its staff to return to the office (RTO) at scale. Many public servants hate the idea as they don’t want...

09.09.2024 10

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Costs and benefits of the care factor

It sounds pretty simple. You do good things for others and as a result get to feel good yourself. Everyone is a winner. End of column. Well, not so...

09.09.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Work from home trends reveal a tale of two cities

Three weeks ago, the NSW Government called its staff to return to the office (RTO) at scale. Many public servants hate the idea as they don’t want...

02.09.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Reasons why Kiwis love to make Australia home

New Zealand and Australia are close friends. Citizens of one country can work without major restrictions in the other country. The visa schemes are in...

26.08.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Nation goes backwards as middle-class shrinks

Australia has slipped dramatically in international rankings measuring innovation and economic complexity over the past couple of decades. The Atlas...

19.08.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

In the end, there's no place like home

Spoiler alert – we are all going to die. However, we push the inevitability of death deep into our subconscious unless we know someone with severe...

12.08.2024 9

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

What jobs will drive the world’s future?

Some jobs come and go as technology changes, while other jobs are always around in some form. Here, we shall explore which jobs are linked to...

05.08.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

One chart illustrates 100 years of nation’s history

The shape of our population profile shapes how we grow up, how we think about our future, and our role in society. This chart explains in broad brush...

26.07.2024 4

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

What will drive Australia’s future prosperity?

Last week, I shared my excitement about the new global population data published by the UN Population Division. This week we will explore the data a...

22.07.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

It’s vital to know the key phases of retirement

In five years even the youngest Baby Boomer will be of retirement age. They will not all be retired, some will still hang around on company boards,...

15.07.2024 10

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Facing the realities of an ageing world

Every two years the United Nations Population Division in New York revises its World Population Prospect dataset (UN WPP 2024). Whenever you see a...

15.07.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Many reasons to get a local government job

Local government is neither the most glamorous employment opportunity, nor are workers showered in money. Only a small share (1.4 per cent) of all...

08.07.2024 10

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

There's four key stages to retirement

In five years even the youngest Baby Boomer will be of retirement age. They will not all be retired, some will still hang around on company boards,...

06.07.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

More reasons to get a local government job

Local government is neither the most glamorous employment opportunity nor are workers showered in money. Only a small share (1.4 per cent) of all...

01.07.2024 20

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Global report reveals dire cost of our housing

The US-based consultancy Demographia published its 20th  annual International Housing Affordability Report measuring the affordability of 94...

22.06.2024 50

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Conflict between Boomer bosses and Gen Z workers is no surprise

Around the country the same intergenerational conflict is playing out daily, and it is driving the young and the old mad in equal measure. Young...

17.06.2024 10

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Australian coal: Burn it or leave it in the ground?

At one point in history coal was the cleaner, less polluting alternative source of energy. Burning coal to heat homes and to cook was much less...

17.06.2024 50

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Time for a ceasefire between generations

Around the country the same intergenerational conflict is playing out daily, and it is driving the young and the old mad in equal measure. Young...

09.06.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Australia won’t always rely on China for trade

You’d be excused if you were nervous about our national reliance on trade with China. There is plenty of news that should make you worry about the...

03.06.2024 40

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

It’s time to update stereotypes about retirees

In a recent column I introduced the idea of the retirement cliff, which detailed the jobs that would lose the most workers to retirement in the next...

03.06.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Dutton’s migration dog-whistle doesn’t stack up

What do Steven Miles, the Labor Premier of Queensland, and Peter Dutton, the Liberal federal Opposition Leader, have in common? They both very much...

27.05.2024 50

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Who will look after the elderly in Australia?

Last week  we discussed just how big the demand for aged care will be in the coming decades. More than half of all people aged 85 will need some...

20.05.2024 40

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Dutton’s migration dog-whistle doesn't add up

What do Steven Miles, the Labor Premier of Queensland, and Peter Dutton, the Liberal federal Opposition Leader, have in common? They both very much...

19.05.2024 100

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Australia’s aged care crisis will worsen

Regular readers of this column will know me to be very optimistic about the future of Australia. There are, however, a few things I am pessimistic...

13.05.2024 20

InDaily

Simon Kuestenmacher

The Stats Guy: Aged care crisis will worsen

Regular readers of this column will know me to be very optimistic about the future of Australia. There are, however, a few things I am pessimistic...

04.05.2024 60

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

What are Australia’s core values?

Are we on the right track as a nation? How do we even tackle such an issue? We must ignore things that are outside of our control and test if our...

27.04.2024 40

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Made in Australia is worth more than ever

Australian manufacturing was once guarded by protectionist tariffs that ensured imported goods were so expensive that locally produced goods could...

22.04.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Our teacher shortage needs to be fixed – now

Last year I published a column about the dramatic teacher shortage in Australia. As I looked at more education data in the past year, my worries...

07.04.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Like it or not, big changes ahead for our suburbs

23.03.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Beyond the hype, migration isn't so scary

Last week I argued that any plausible Australian government will continue the current high migration approach. Today we will explore the basic makeup...

16.03.2024 40

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Forget about zero migration. It can't happen

Today we explore the topic of migration. In fact, we will end migration altogether today. We explore an Australia ten years from now where we have...

10.03.2024 100

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

How industries will cope with the skills shortage

In a previous column I discussed the prolonged skills shortage that Australia is facing in the coming decade and argued that this alone will guarantee...

03.03.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

As the world gets smarter, uni students get dumber

Over the Christmas break I read outstanding biographies of the great thinkers Humboldt , Goethe , and Oppenheimer . As I was reading, I realised...

12.02.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

A map showing how rare Australians really are

The last week of parental leave for your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is about to come to an end. Today I’m showing you one of my favourite maps...

04.02.2024 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

US loves Australia more than we love it – here's proof

–Your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is still on parental leave for another three weeks. Instead of a big data driven column I’m showing you...

21.01.2024 8

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

A simple graph that puts humanity in perspective

Your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is still on parental leave for another four weeks. So instead of my weekly data-driven column I am going to...

14.01.2024 50

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

The Stats Guy: Lessons from a global election year

Your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is still on parental leave for another five weeks. Instead of my weekly data-driven column I am going to share...

06.01.2024 30

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Why water is the stuff of life – and trade too

Your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is on parental leave for the next six weeks. So instead of a weekly data-driven column, I am going to share some...

31.12.2023 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

Your guide to migration through the eons

Your friendly neighbourhood Stats Guy is on parental leave for the next eight weeks. So instead of a weekly data-driven column I am going to share...

17.12.2023 10

The New Daily

Simon Kuestenmacher

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