The COVID-19 virus, together with the ‘lockdowns’ instituted from March 2020 to prevent its spread, plunged the Australian economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This Supplement outlines what the available data tells us about the impacts on employment and incomes.

This paper argues that Australia is emerging from the pandemic sooner, and at less economic cost than expected, but with higher unemployment and elevated debt. Businesses and households are more uncertain than usual, though the recovery is already underway and will likely gain momentum over coming months.

It is important to understand how intergenerational equity is changing over time. The Australian Actuaries Intergenerational Equity Index (AAIEI) contributes to this discussion by tracking and assessing 24 indicators, across six broad domains, that relate to wealth and wellbeing (economic and fiscal, housing, health and disability, social, education and environment).

This report provides an in-depth analysis of how income sources evolved between 2001 and 2018 for various age groups, and why. It shows the main driver behind lower incomes for young people is falling wage income.

This paper investigates labour market scarring that might have occurred over the period 2008 to 2018 — specifically whether young people entering the labour market during and following the GFC had a harder transition into employment than those entering earlier, and whether that experience could have longer term impacts on the labour market outcomes for...