PC is wrong: Mass immigration left ‘lost decade’ of young workers

Thursday 30 July 2020

In argued earlier this week that “what has already been a lost decade is turning into a lost generation” for younger Australians.

Now the Productivity Commission (PC) has picked up on the theme, showing that the real average annual disposable income of Australian workers in the 35-64 age group increased by 1.4% the 10 years to 2018, whereas they have surged by 86% for over-65s.

In contrast, the average annual disposable income of those aged 16-24 and 25-34 fell by 1.6% and 0.7% respectively over the same period:

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About the author

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.