Australia’s services economy dies

The Australian Industry Group (AIG) today released its Performance of Services Index (PSI), which shows that Australia’s services sector is dead as a dodo:

According to AIG, the PSI fell “0.1 points to 31.5 points in June 2020 (seasonally adjusted), indicating another serious contraction in activity in June and at a similar pace to May. This was the second lowest result in the history of this series, following a record low in April (commencing in 2003)”.

As shown below, it is a sea of red ink with all sub-sectors contracting:

Importantly, wages and employment have collapsed:

Alongside sales and new orders:

Whereas spare capacity is at record levels:

Better ramp-up immigration (not!).