Many other Australians had their hours cut, with young people bearing a lot of the burden (Graph 1). All up, total hours worked in Australia fell by 10 per cent in just a few weeks. As staggering as this fall is, it is smaller than we earlier feared.
When the credit ratings of JGBs were downgraded in December 2014, the JGB market showed no notable reaction, but should this suggest an impairment of market functioning – which is supposed to reflect the fiscal condition – then the situation requires attention.