“Any improvement in living standards remains moribund, with per capita economic growth barely crawling above zero per cent in the past quarter and still lower than when the current federal government first came into office,” said Dr Kevin You, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.
Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics updated its Australian National Accounts series with new data for the June quarter of 2026. IPA analysis of the new data reveals:
- Per capita real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.036 per cent in the June quarter of 2026.
- Ten out of the sixteen full quarters under the Albanese government has experienced a fall in real per capita economic output.
- Real per capita GDP in the June quarter of 2026 was still lower than it was at the start of the Albanese government in the June quarter of 2022.
- Economic productivity has not grown in more than a year. In fact, it fell by 0.20 per cent between the June quarter of 2025 and the June quarter of 2026.
Productivity in the June quarter of 2026 was 5.05 per cent lower than its record peak, in the March quarter of 2022, just before low-productivity migrant workers flooded the Australian market at record numbers.
Chart 1: Real per capita economic growth by federal government term
New IPA research, Losing its Lustre, documents how Australia has been slipping down the international league ladder of countries in which it is attractive to make major investments, especially in the resources sector. The opportunity cost of the investment shortfall that we have seen in the last decade cumulatively amounts to approximately $688 billion.
“The ever-increasing size of government has been squeezing out the private sector. And expanding the size of the population, to paper over the cracks, to avoid a technical recession, has made the problem worse – with labour productivity plummeting from its peak, in early 2022,” said Dr You.
“Economic recovery starts with abandoning net zero, cutting government tape, and slashing immigration. Corrective action in the economy should not wait any longer.”
To download the IPA’s previous research, click here.
Chart 2: Australia’s labour productivity index
