New South Wales and Australia have fared better than many developed economies following the worst months of COVID-19, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) June quarter report on national accounts.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet welcomed the ABS report saying the results were consistent with NSW being the first and initially hardest hit State by the pandemic.
“The June quarter captures the worst months of the pandemic for NSW, with a number of public health orders coming into effect throughout March,” Mr Perrottet said.
“About two-thirds of NSW’s population lives in Greater Sydney and metropolitan areas, which means when restrictions were in place there was a significant reduction in citizen mobility which would have contributed to the 13.3 per cent decrease in household consumption,” he said.
“Thanks to our allocation of almost $16 billion in targeted health and economic stimulus measures, consistent management of new COVID-19 clusters staving off a second wave, and many of the State’s restrictions being gradually eased throughout May and June, we expect to see a significant bounce back in the September quarter.”
Mr Perrottet said Australia had not faced such uncertain economic times since the Great Depression.
He said that according to the ABS quarterly accounts, dwelling investment such as the building of new homes and renovation of existing homes, dropped by 7.6 per cent.
“Since restrictions eased in NSW, employment has started to rise with more than half of the 269,000 people in NSW who lost their job between March and May finding employment,” he said.
“In July alone, NSW’s employment rose by almost 57,000 of which about 65 per cent were women.”
Mr Perrottet said this was made up of 23,300 full-time jobs and 33,600 part-time jobs.
The ABS June quarter report can be accessed at this PS News link.
