Sources: ABS; IMF; OECD; RBA; Thomson Reuters  The Australian economy If the global environment became more complicated and more variable, and if the shocks hitting the economy became larger, it would not be entirely surprising if this resulted in more variability of the Australian economy. But that is not, in fact, what we find. Table 2 presents the relevant data.
[ 6]  1976–1986 1986–1996 1996–2006 2006–2016  Table 2: Selected Australian Indicators(a) Per cent Unemployment Headline CPI Underlying Real GDP growth rate Inflation Inflation Annual Standard Standard Annual Standard Annual Standard Average deviation average deviation average deviation average deviation 2.7 1.1 7.2 1.5 9.1 1.0 8.4 0.5 3.4 0.8 8.6 1.6 4.6 0.7 4.5 0.6 3.6 0.6 6.4 1.1 2.5 0.3 2.6 0.2 2.8 0.4 5.3 0.6 2.3 0.5 2.7 0.2  (a) Quarterly data in the table are for the decades to: Q3 1986; Q3 1996; Q3 2006; and the 38 or 39 quarters to the latest available data for 2016.