Discussion of The Australian Labour Market in the 1990s

Peter Dawkins is one of many expressing surprise that unemployment remains the wrong side of 6⁄2 per cent ‘after eight years of sustained strong growth’. An Okun-accounting approach might help. Albeit very crudely applied here, the Okun concentration is on GDP, labour productivity and labour force growth rates rather than elapsed recovery time alone. When the 1990s expansion is viewed through Okun spectacles the surprise from the standpoint of prior expectations is how low, not how high unemployment is today.