Graph 10  GDP Growth* From December 2019 to March 2021 %  5  5  0  0  -5  -5  -10  -10  -15  -15  Taiwan China Vietnam Hong Kong India South Korea New Zealand Australia Singapore United States Indonesia Brazil Canada Poland Russia Japan Malaysia Thailand Euro area Philippines United Kingdom  %  *  Forecasts used where March quarter GDP has not yet been reported Sources: ABS; Bloomberg; CEIC Data; Consensus Economics; RBA; Refinitiv  https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2021/sp-dg-2021-05-06.html  20/26  5/6/2021  Monetary Policy During COVID | Speeches | RBA  Graph 11  Change in Employment Since December quarter 2019  United States Hong Kong  Italy  Israel United Kingdom  Philippines  Portugal  -6  Spain  -6  Finland  -4  France  -4  Canada  -2  South Korea  -2  Switzerland Norway  0  Taiwan  0  New Zealand  ppt  Australia  ppt  Sources: RBA; Refinitiv  Household spending has been particularly strong.
There has been a marked switch from spending on services to spending on goods, though that has started to unwind in recent months. Household incomes have been very high. This has been a remarkable episode where households' incomes have risen at the same time as the economy has been through a historically large recession.