But first to the economy and Australia's unemployment rate could be much higher than the official figures suggest.

There has been debate for years about the way the Bureau of Statistics calculates the official jobless rate.

Now a survey by the Roy Morgan Research group suggests that, rather than 4.3 per cent, the real unemployment rate is 6.4 per cent.

And it has found that there has been a sharp rise in the jobless rate in recent months, with 1.5-million Australians either unemployed or under-employed.

The NAB monthly business survey also indicates that the economy has been shedding jobs since June and will continue to do so well into 2010.


hi dean,

not sure if the above is the answer you were looking for....[&o] still, apparently we're not quite in an official recession yet, hanging on by our fingertips.

the parts of oz you visited are beautiful (i remember you sent me some of your photos). my partner & i did a similar thing to you earlier this year just before the birth of our first child (minus the launching off mt buffalo bit...). like anywhere, it has it's stunning parts, and plenty of not-so-stunning ones too.

i read between the lines a bit where you had a lot going on in your life, and mike was not so well etc, so i know there were plenty of reasons why a thread about toy planes on the internet was low on the priority list, but if you're up for it again, i for one will be reading!

thanks for all the suggestion about balsa sealers too guys.

..d