INTHEBLACK July 2022 - Magazine - Page 21
AROUND THE WORLD, TRANSFORMATIVE
TECHNOLOGIES, SUCH AS ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND THE INTERNET OF
THINGS (IOT), ARE BEING USED TO INFLUENCE
THE THREE PS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH –
POPULATION, PARTICIPATION AND
PRODUCTIVITY.
STORY CHRISTOPHER NIESCHE
W
hen it comes to economic growth, Australia has generally
been acknowledged as a lucky country.
Until recently, the nation had enjoyed 28 years of
uninterrupted economic growth – the longest any nation
had ever gone without a recession. The growth streak was only ended
by the unprecedented and extraordinary effects of the COVID-19
pandemic, which shut down economic activity across the world.
Yet the strong performance belies some underlying problems.
The decade ending 2019-2020 was the worst decade of growth in
60 years, according to a 2021 report by Productivity Commission.
“This mainly reflects a global productivity slowdown and the end
of the mining investment boom, which has subdued investment
and, through lower terms of trade, reduced the purchasing power of
Australian incomes,” it said in its latest Productivity Insights report.
While overall labour productivity rose weakly, multifactor
productivity – a measure of how well the economy uses its resources
to produce output – fell for the first time in nearly a decade.
For Australia to reignite its economic growth, it must focus on boosting
three things: population, participation and productivity. An important
pathway is to draw on the huge gains that technologies such as artificial
intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) have to offer.
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au July 2022 21