Average hours worked increased from 32.3 per week in April to 32.8 per week in May, according to a study by the Australian National University’s (ANU) Centre for Social Research and Methods.
The increase followed the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and improved health results, with the study also finding that employment has levelled out at 58% and that the percentage of people who expect to lose their jobs over the next 12 months fell from 24.4% in April to 20.6% in May. However, the study also found that over 50% of Australians still remain anxious about the virus:
The data summarised in this paper comes from the second wave of the COVID-19 monitoring surveys collected in May 2020. It gives an indication that economic circumstances may have stabilised, and that subjective wellbeing outcomes for Australians are improving. Australians are far less anxious and worried about COVID-19, less likely to think they are going to be infected, are less lonely, and have higher levels of life satisfaction.
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
