Mass unemployment stalks South Australia

In Adelaide, the inflation rate is at a very low .5 per cent. Why is demand so weak? Because unemployment in SA is not 7 per cent. It's closer to 12 per cent and under employment is soaring. The ABS counts working one hour a week as being employed. Job advertisements in SA were in free fall in the May quarter, down 11 per cent across the board and 13.8 per cent in the private sector, according to the ABS. The main problem is that small businesses can't pay fixed costs, such as rent, which in Unley and Semaphore, are astronomical.

Happy clappers

The most recent Deloitte Access Economics quarterly Business Outlook gives the SA economy a 'relaxed outlook'. BankSA says business confidence is up and he Adelaide University Centre for Economic Studies produces reports show 'green shoots' and 'considerable optimism'. If these organisations were a dog, they'd get a stomach scratch from the state government. The 'happy clapper' reports divert, disguise and conceal from the public, the true state of the economy, some of which I've listed below:

· SA has a real unemployment and under employment rate of 19 per cent (combined) – that's more than 150,000 people out of a workforce of 810,000.

· The recent write down of $796 million in state tax revenue over the forward estimates, includes an expected loss of $416 million in payroll tax as the economy falters.

· Last year more than 140 people had their homes repossessed, up from 134 people in 2014. But according to a senior real estate source, the real figure is four times that number, especially in the state's north.

· SA's share of the national economy has shrunk from 7.3 per cent in 1990 to 6.3 per cent this year. Its share of national employment has fallen from 8.3 per cent to 7.0 per cent.

· 15 per cent of CBD prime office space and 20 per cent of non-prime is vacant.

'Print' media

If a newspaper is a complete product, by contrast, digital news is constantly updated, improved upon, changed, moved and developed. The Advertiserhas none of these former or latter qualities. It is static and committed to trivia. The 'Tiser' supports a deeply orthodox political mindset. It patrols the status quo like a Rottweiler, making it completely unfit to discuss how radical changes such as globalisation, deregulation, the rise of Asian manufacturing and online trading, is hitting South Australians. Too often it uses editorial to promote News Corporation business relationships. During the last 30 years, it has created a 'news divorce', from Australia and the rest of the world by wrapping what's left of the readership in parochialism.To be fair, no alternative political ideologies or business philosophies were savaged. They simply weren't reported.

InDailyhas successfully turned from the hard copy Weekly Independent to a Monday-Friday online 'newspaper'. It carries a variety of hard news, reviews and opinion. I occasionally write opinion articles for InDaily that examine 'unreported' Adelaide. InDaily has evolved from a newspaper in to a moderately profitable online news bureau. It's partnership with City Mag is driving deep in to the 20s and 30s inner suburban demographic.

Young people leaving