Job creation memories - a note on economic forecasting

This item from the Sydney Morning Herald this morning brought back some memories of election campaigns long past.
6-01-2014 jobmemories
In 1983 an earnest young economist who had spent months working seriously on Labor policy matters presented me with his final conclusions as to what should be promised about employment growth under a new government. I forget the recommended figure - 350,000 new jobs over three years or something - but it didn't have the right ring to my well honed economic ears. So a much more grandiose 500,000 new jobs appeared in the shadow Treasurer Paul Keating's election manifesto. 
The real surprise to me came a few years later when I heard the then proper Treasurer Keating boasting about how he had done even better than he had promised. So much for forecasting.

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