PPI’s Chief Economic Strategist Dr. Michael Mandel was quoted in an article from the Australian Financial Review this morning. Breaking down Mandel’s recent paper, “Jobs in the Australian App Economy,” the article looks at the Australian app economy’s burgeoning role both nationally and internationally.
As the main source of growth in the economy continues to shift away from mining investment, a new report has found Australia is well-positioned to take advantage of a booming global “app economy”.
But the authors of the report, from United States think tank the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), warn that a mindset of “digital protectionism” risks stunting future jobs creation in the technology sector.
“Since the introduction of smartphones in 2007, a thriving new creative industry has emerged in the design, building, maintenance, and marketing of applications for these devices that now employs more Australians than the nation’s well-regarded motion picture or publishing industries,” said the report’s lead author, the institute’s chief economic strategist Michael Mandel.
PPI’s research found that employment in Australia’s computer systems design industry has grown at 38 per cent since 2008, outstripping overall employment growth of 8 per cent. Mr Mandel suggests much of the growth in the broader computer systems design industry is due to an explosion in the number of app developers…
PPI found the Australian computer systems design industry employed roughly 140,000 workers, as of June 2014. New South Wales stood out as the capital of the app economy, employing 77,000 people in the industry, more than any other state.
Read the full article at Financial Review.
