Report – Peter Davidson, Australian Council of Social Service, 1 March 2022
Covid, inequality and poverty in 2020 and 2021
How poverty and inequality were reduced in the Covid recession and increased during the recovery
This report summarises evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 recession and recovery on income inequality and poverty in Australia, including new ABS data tracking inequality during 2020 and 2021. The data tell a tale of two very different pandemic experiences.
Key findings:
- In 2020, income inequality and poverty declined during the ‘Alpha’ wave of the pandemic despite the deepest recession in a century and an ‘effective unemployment rate’ reaching 17%, due to robust public income supports – JobKeeper payment and Coronavirus Supplement.
- In the first half of 2021, employment and earnings recovered but these income supports were withdrawn. The available evidence indicates that income inequality and poverty increased above pre-pandemic levels.
- In September 2021, with half the population back under lockdown in response to the ‘Delta’ wave of the pandemic, the effective unemployment rate was 9%.
- COVID income supports in response to the ‘Delta’ wave were much weaker, as over 80% of people on the lowest income support payments were excluded from the COVID disaster payment. Those payments have now been phased out.
- The legacy of the two pandemic experiences is likely to be higher inequality and poverty than beforehand, despite remarkable progress in reducing both in 2020. By September 2021 there were 1.7 million people on the lowest income support payments (25% more than before the pandemic) and those payments still sit below the poverty line.
Read the full report here: https://povertyandinequality.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Build-back-fairer-report-3_FINAL.pdf
Report – World Bank, 15 February 2022
World Bank World development report 2022: finance for an equitable recovery
This report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic—risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.
Those policies include the efficient and transparent management of non-performing loans to mitigate threats to financial stability, insolvency reforms to allow for the orderly reduction of unsustainable debts, innovations in risk management and lending models to ensure continued access to credit for households and businesses, and improvements in sovereign debt management to preserve the ability of governments to support an equitable recovery.
Read the full report here: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2022-02/apo-nid316686_0.pdf
