AUSTRALIANS are becoming more optimistic about their long term job prospects, believing the country might have seen the worst of the coronavirus economic impact.
It comes as new employment figures show one in three food and accommodation workers lost their jobs between mid-March and mid-April.
A new survey shows a slight increase in the number of small and medium-sized business employees who believe they’ll be better off in six months as job opportunities rise.
Australians are more upbeat about the jobs market than a fortnight earlier, suggesting people may feel the worst of the economic fallout has passed.
More than half of respondents report a decrease in personal spending, while nearly two-thirds of unemployed Australians are spending less.
Nearly a quarter of small and medium-sized business employees think they’ll be better off in six months, up from 16 per cent two weeks ago.
But the largest proportion (41 per cent) still believe they will be worse off in six months.
Jobs data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Tuesday also found a third of arts and recreation jobs were gone.
The Australian economy had lost 7.5 per cent of jobs, with wages shrinking by 8.2 per cent, according to the bureau.
Food and accommodation workers aged 20 to 29 and over 70 were the hardest hit, with more than 40 per cent of those age groups out of work.
