Economic forecaster says recession will ?hurt bad?

Staff Reporter Tuesday, 28 Apr 2009 1 minute read

Close to one million Australians will be out of work by late next year however Australia will still fare better than most, forecaster Access Economics predicts.

In its latest Business Outlook, released today, Access said Australia’s recession would be “small” relative to its peers, but said it would still “hurt bad” nonetheless.

Unemployment could reach 8.5 per cent by late 2010, the forecaster said, with most states’ economies starting to look more like NSW – which has been in bad shape for some time.

While there were reasons for optimism, including the “rude good health” of Australia’s banks, the “big stomp on the accelerator” from policymakers, and our proximity to China, Access said the recession would hurt Australians’ incomes due to the bigger boom we experienced comparative to other countries prior to the economic slowdown.

“The increase in profits here was rather bigger as a share of our economy than elsewhere, while house prices are a bigger multiple of our wages than in comparable nations,” Access said.