Jon Hall

Jon Hall joined the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1999. In 2000 he was lucky enough to land the job of leading the development of a brand new project to measure national progress. The work culminated in 2002 with the release of the ABS publication ‘Measuring Australia’s Progress’ (MAP). Jon went on to lead the development of the second issue – now called ‘Measures of Australia’s Progress’ - that was published in April 2004. As well as leading the project, Jon was the publication’s editor and a principal author, writing MAP’s environment material, as well as chapters on health, financial hardship, transport, communication, governance and democracy, together with articles on multiple disadvantage and international comparisons, and various essays around the publication’s conceptual underpinnings and framework.

Measuring progress aside, Jon leads a team of socio-economic researchers in the Bureau’s analysis branch. Current projects include measuring the stocks and flows of Australian human capital, and a suite of projects that analyse aspects of the Australian labour force and aging population.

British by birth, Jon worked for the UK government – on transport policy and then as a statistician - before moving to Australia. He’s also lived in Zambia (where he volunteered for the UN’s World Food Program) and the USA (where he fared spectacularly badly in a succession of short careers, including house painter, security guard and waiter). He’s got qualifications in maths, statistics and public service administration, and a fascination with wildlife.