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Unemployment in an Age of Prosperity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Mark Wooden
Mark Wooden*
Affiliation:
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne
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The 1990s in Australia was characterised by relatively strong and persistent economic growth. For example, over the 8-year period 1992/93 to 1999/2000 GDP growth averaged 4.2 per cent per annum, well in excess of that experienced in most other Western nations. More importantly, growth in GDP per capita over this same period averaged 3 per cent per annum, not far behind the levels recorded during the 1960s (3.3 per cent over the decade), a period generally described as one when full employment prevailed. Moreover, despite a slowdown in 2000/01, economic growth accelerated again in 2001/02, growing by almost 4 per cent in the 12 months ended June 2002.

As would be expected, these relatively high persistent rates of output growth have translated into relatively high rates of growth in income. Real household disposable income per capita over the 10 years to June 2002 grew by 18 per cent, or an average of 1.6 per cent per annum.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , December 2002 , pp. 179 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2002

Footnotes

*

The author thanks Jeff Borland, David Johnson and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on a preliminary draft. The views expressed in this article, however, are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to anyone else.

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