The hope was that by doing this, we could avoid much of the costly damage that would be caused by mass unemployment and widespread business failures. This was the right strategy, and it was supported by governments across Australia, the RBA and Australia's financial institutions. The results speak for themselves. Today, the level of employment in Australia is above its pre-pandemic level.
Australia and New Zealand are the only advanced economies where this is the case (Graph 1). In the United States, employment is still nearly 5 per cent below the pre-pandemic level and in Spain it is 3 per cent below.