Grim state of Aussie economy laid bare: ‘Deteriorated significantly’
While the headline figures delivered by the economy are decent enough, when you drill down into the data, it becomes increasingly clear why so many Aussies are dissatisfied.
Tarric Brooker· Freelance journalist
Sun 12 July 2026 at 12:30 am GMT+5:30
4 min read
When it comes to debate surrounding the issue of the economy within the halls of power in Canberra and the broader coverage of federal politics, there is a phrase that is seen perhaps more often than any other: “superior economic management”
This is a statement or slogan that both sides of federal politics have used extensively over the years, with it being almost entirely based on the performance of the economy in headline terms
Metrics such as headline GDP growth dominate the discourse, despite the fact that they are arguably increasingly not representative of the experience of Australians in their everyday lives
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In order to shed a bit more light on how the economy is performing, three different metrics will be examined starting at the surface and gradually drilling down further toward what is arguably a more accurate representation of the economic fortunes of the average household
Those are:
Growth in headline GDP
Growth in per capita GDP
Growth in GDP per working age adult (civilians 15 years of age and over)
We will be using the final national accounts data unimpacted by the pandemic as our base to measure growth in outcomes
Headline Terms
Between the December quarter of 2019 and the latest ABS data, which covers up to the end of the March quarter of 2026, the Australian economy has grown by 13.7 per cent
To put this into perspective, over the same duration prior to the pandemic from the September quarter of 2013 to the December quarter of 2019, the economy grew by 16.2 per cent
Not a bad result in headline terms, but well below what was the norm in the 1990s and 2000s
Per Person
If we shift the lens through which the economy is assessed to growth in GDP per person, the picture is significantly less favourable
On this metric, the economy has grown by 4.0 per cent since the end of 2019, but it has not grown at all versus where it was in the March quarter of 2022
GDP per person peaked in the December quarter of 2022 and trended down to the March quarter of 2025
While it has since bounced back somewhat, that positive impulse has since faded
Per Working Age Person
While GDP per capita is preferable as a metric compared with headline GDP growth, it doesn’t tell the whole story
For example, as the proportion of the population held by children falls, all else remaining equal, GDP per capita should rise, simply due to a greater proportion of people being of working age
