Aussie’s job worries ‘rising consistently’ as job security concerns rise

Australian households are finding it tough at the moment with the cost of living rising and rates increasing. Now, a troubling new fear has emerged.

Job security has become a major concern for Australian households as consumer stress has reached its highest point since the start of the Covid pandemic, new figures have revealed.

The NAB Consumer Stress Index shows consumer stress rose for the fifth straight quarter in the three months from September to December 2023.

It now sits at a score of 59.5 out of 100 which is the highest reading for consumer stress since the first three months of 2020 - when the Covid pandemic emerged.

The NAB Consumer Stress Index has hit its highest point since the start of the Covid pandemic. Picture: NAB.

NAB found that while cost of living pressures continue to be the biggest driver behind heightened consumer concerns, stress levels remained consistent through the last six months of 2023 as inflation continued to fall.

Instead, a new culprit has emerged, with concerns about job security jumping five points in the past three months.

The unemployment rate in Australia for December 2023 remained steady at 3.9 per cent according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but NAB believes the worst is yet to come.

“Given our expectations that the unemployment rate will reach around 4.5 per cent by end-2024 as the economy slows, consumer concern around jobs is likely to continue to rise in the coming year,” NAB said.

In the last months of 2023 Australia’s unemployment rate began trending up.

NAB said stress about job security had been “rising consistently” since September 2022, and is “now trending well above the survey average”.

Seven per cent of those surveyed expect their job security to worsen in the next three months, a figure which increased to 10 per cent when asked if they expect their job security to worsen in the next year.

Those on lower incomes were found to be the most pessimistic about their job security.

The impact financial concerns are having on mental health remains high, with 74 per cent of Australians reporting they have experienced elevated distress due to social and economic circumstances during the December quarter.

Aussies are also expecting their job security to worsen in the coming months. Picture: NAB.

Those figures are from Suicide Prevention Australia’s Community Tracker, which looks at the social and economic issues driving distress and subsequent suicide risk in Australia.

Just weeks ago, respected economist Shane Oliver, from AMP, warned that the risk of Australia sliding into a recession sat at around 40 per cent as the economy continues to slow down.

In a note, he said: “The risk of recession is high reflecting the lagged impact of rate hikes.

“It’s hard to see the biggest rate hiking cycle since the 1980s not having a major impact.

“It’s hard to believe there’s not more to come in terms of weakness in the ­economy and there’s a risk that we slide into recession.”

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Dr Oliver concluded that if Australia hasn’t fallen into a recession or a severe ­downturn by the middle of 2024, the risk of us doing so “will ­recede from there”.