We live in difficult economic times. But while we wait on the official statistics to see just how bad things get, policy makers and citizens are making decisions on how to manage the fallout. To help inform these decisions, Grattan has identified what we think are the best early measures of how Australian households and businesses are faring through the crisis.
The Grattan Econ Tracker is a new public dashboard illustrating the impacts of COVID-19 on the Australian economy. Split into three themes, you can find the latest indicators of business activity, jobs and unemployment, and consumer spending and mobility.
Whether you’re a policy maker, journalist, researcher, or concerned citizen, we hope you will find the Grattan Econ Tracker convenient and informative. It complements the Grattan Coronavirus Announcements Tracker, which documents all Australian government decisions by date and type, and is continuously updated.
Grattan will update the econ dashboard as frequently as the data sources allow – in some cases this is daily, in others weekly or monthly. Our selection of indicators will evolve over time as new and better data becomes available.
No single measure tells the whole story but together they paint a picture of how the economy is tracking. The early signs suggest the economic impact of COVID-19 is already very large. As the health situation improves, and shutdown measures are eased, we look forward to seeing the economic recovery in these indicators too.