Employment in a Covid economy

The big question is what happens next? Some believe Brisbane is entering a ‘golden decade’ of growth, spurred on to an Olympics 2032 target. The declining interest in overpriced metros like Sydney and Melbourne could drive more people and jobs across the border into Queensland, or into more regional centres of those states. Certainly, this is happening in centres like San Francisco, New York or Los Angeles. Why pay exorbitant prices for housing and still have to commute long hours to a job you can do equally well in a better and more affordable home in a better suburb, seems to be the rationale.

Then again, the same forces that drove Sydney and Melbourne to account for half the jobs growth across the country for a decade, could return. If they do, I suspect it will take time.

The reality is that this has further to go. Australia’s initial resilience in terms of full-time jobs owes much to the Federal Government’s Jobkeeper and related support packages. They have now run their course (adding eye watering sums to our debt in the process). What happens next will very much depend on the extent to which we overcome irrational vaccination fears and allow our economy to open up more fully without intermittent, unpredictable and highly damaging lockdowns. Here’s hoping we don’t have long to wait.