WA’s unemployment rate fell to 3.6 per cent in September, the lowest of the states and well below the national rate of 4.1 per cent. Photo: Delectus.
After 10 years, Western Australia has reclaimed its position as the nation’s best-performing economy in the latest CommSec State of the States report.
Using the most recent economic data available, the Commonwealth Bank’s digital broking arm – CommSec – determines each state and territory’s performance by tracking eight key indicators in comparison with decade averages.
South Australia took the lead in CommSec’s past three reports, but has dropped to second position due to WA’s excellence in three of the key economic indicators: retail spending, relative unemployment and relative population growth.
Treasurer Rita Saffioti celebrated the latest findings as a confirmation of “what Western Australians already know – that our state is the strongest and has led the country over the past five years”.
“We’ll continue to fire on all cylinders and keep focusing on supporting further growth and diversification of our economy to ensure we remain the powerhouse of the nation.”
CommSec chief economist Ryan Felsman said the strength of Australia’s state and territory economies continued to be driven by a resilient job market and solid population growth, underpinning economy-wide demand.
“However, an extended period of elevated interest rates to counter persistent inflation is pressuring consumers and slowing economic momentum,” he said. “The path forward will largely depend on the ongoing strength of the labour market, trajectory for monetary policy and China’s economic recovery.”
Mr Felsman said WA was well positioned for sustained future performance, but the competition remained intense – “particularly among the top three states”.
Queensland has moved from fifth to third spot, Victoria has slipped to fourth, Tasmania has climbed to fifth from sixth, ACT moved to sixth from fourth, NSW retained its position in seventh and the NT bottomed out at eighth.
Source: CommSec.
Looking further into the report, South Australia ranked first on real economic growth and dwelling starts.
Queensland is now in top spot for home lending, with the value of home loans up 39 per cent on the long-term average. Victoria led on construction work done, up 13.5 per cent on the decade-average level.
Tasmania took top spot on equipment investment, which measures real spending on new plant and equipment. The island state is 36.4 per cent above the decade average.
Despite its tumble, the ACT ranked second on economic growth and retail spending. Rate-sensitive NSW was held back by higher borrowing costs and fell to seventh on three indicators – retail spending, equipment investment and dwelling starts.
The NT ranked eighth on five indicators: economic growth, retail spending, construction work, home lending and dwelling starts.
Looking at annual growth rates, CommSec found WA had the strongest economic momentum for the fourth survey in a row.
Queensland came in second, but ranked first on relative unemployment and housing finance. South Australia bumped itself up from seventh to sixth spot, while Victoria slumped from fourth to seventh position.
Tasmania now sits in fifth position, with the ACT just ahead of them after slipping from third position. And NSW is in eighth after being sixth in the previous report.
Most notably is the NT’s jump from eighth to third place, now ranking second on three of the key economic indicators: retail spending, business investment and relative population growth.
