{"id":820526,"date":"2026-07-24T09:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820526\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:10:20","slug":"victorian-labor-government-mismanagement-has-exaggerated-the-states-economic-troubles-as-it-pushes-unemployment-rate-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820526\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorian Labor government mismanagement has ‘exaggerated’ the state’s economic troubles as it pushes unemployment rate up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria has dragged the nation\u2019s economy down as the Andrews and Allan governments have \u201cexaggerated\u201d troubles that have made it one of the nation\u2019s poorest states.<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s unemployment rate sits well above the national average of 4.4 per cent at 5.1 per cent, Thursday\u2019s Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.<\/p>\n

All other major states\u2019 unemployment rates sit below the national average.<\/p>\n

Independent economist Saul Eslake said Victoria\u2019s economic crash over the past two decades had been worsened by about 12 years of the state Labor government.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 20 years – predating the ascension of the Andrews government, but certainly exaggerated and continued by the Andrews and Allan governments – Victoria has slipped from being one of Australia’s richest states to being either the second or third poorest state, depending on which measure you use,\u201d Mr Eslake told Sky News.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most Victorians would be astonished to learn \u2026 that household disposable income per head of population in Victoria is now lower than Tasmania’s and ahead only of South Australia’s.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that Victoria has become the type of state it once criticised amid higher unemployment and poor productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictoria has become what Western Australians like to call a mendicant state. That is, they’re getting a bigger share of revenue from the GST now than they would get if it was distributed on an equal per capita basis,\u201d Mr Eslake said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(This) is the way Victoria used to argue it should be distributed when they were one of the richest states in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Victoria\u2019s labour productivity has fallen by 5.6 per cent compared to the national average since 1999-2000, according to Mr Eslake.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria's<\/p>\n

\u201cVictoria’s productivity performance has been very poor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has chased economic growth in intrinsically low productivity forms of economic activity, and that’s increasingly showing up in figures like investment and employment or unemployment, where Victoria’s unemployment rate has for some time been well above the national average.\u201d<\/p>\n

EQ Economics managing director Warren Hogan said Victoria\u2019s unemployment rate increase<\/a> was a sign of economic troubles in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last two years, you’ve seen Victorian unemployment rise by almost two percentage points from around 3.25 per cent to now being over five per cent,\u201d Mr Hogan told Business Now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of the country has gone from around 3.5 per cent to just over four per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at Victoria, it’s got a whole lot of economic problems as we know. But the rest of the country, this number signals economic strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Hogan also said that Victoria continues to be the \u201cmost interest rate\u201d sensitive because that\u2019s where some of the country\u2019s largest mortgages are.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictoria’s obviously already got a soft economy and it’s got a massively expanding government having an influence on everything from construction through to the workforce,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Victoria is going to get hit hard if we do have to see multiple rate hikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rates have been lifted three times since the beginning of 2026 and the RBA said\u00a0another lift may be needed<\/a>\u00a0if inflation continues to remain elevated.<\/p>\n

Trimmed mean inflation \u2013 the middle 70 per cent of price changes \u2013 continues to sit outside the RBA\u2019s 2-3 per cent target band at 3.6 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria has dragged the nation\u2019s economy down as the Andrews and Allan governments have \u201cexaggerated\u201d troubles that have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[394692,395618,395593,383008,395592,394678,395607,394658,394664,395587,395602,395599,10968,394671,394706,394697,395609,395608,394685,395616,394681,394676,387600,395594,395590,394667,395585,394708,394670,394657,394656,64,63,99,395605,32092,394705,11758,85796,182,394682,156483,394690,164,395589,54957,29253,395591,270297,395604,5465,395610,395606,16287,394695,1788,165713,395581,395617,394669,394684,395603,20246,395612,63446,93095,395586,14825,28747,395611,47714,378904,380089,1124,2177,395584,2801,394663,395583,395615,395580,377055,313300,395614,395579,394680,394683,188490,394693,395619,377403,378229,395613,395596,165057,395588,395597,214758,378922,394698,394691,9357,39,394675,4847,165,395598,395601,660,395595,395582,394703,249498,395600],"class_list":["post-820526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-s-2-3","tag-s-australian-bureau","tag-s-economic-crash","tag-s-economy","tag-s-labour-productivity","tag-s-largest-mortgages","tag-s-poorest-states","tag-s-unemployment-rate","tag-s-unemployment-rate-increase","tag-exaggerated-troubles","tag-12-years","tag-1999-2000","tag-10968","tag-3-6","tag-4-4","tag-5-1","tag-5-6","tag-a-bigger-share","tag-a-massively-expanding-government","tag-a-mendicant-state","tag-a-sign","tag-a-soft-economy","tag-a-whole-lot","tag-about-12-years","tag-all-other-major-states","tag-almost-two-percentage-points","tag-an-equal","tag-an-influence","tag-another-lift","tag-around-3-25","tag-around-3-5","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-capita-basis","tag-cent","tag-cent-target-band","tag-construction","tag-economic-activity","tag-economic-growth","tag-economic-problems","tag-economic-strength","tag-economic-troubles","tag-economy","tag-eq-economics-managing-director-warren-hogan","tag-figures","tag-head","tag-higher-unemployment","tag-household-disposable-income","tag-independent-economist-saul-eslake","tag-inflation","tag-intrinsically-low-productivity-forms","tag-investment-and-employment-or-unemployment","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-just-over-four","tag-labor","tag-mismanagement","tag-most-victorians","tag-mr-eslake","tag-mr-hogan","tag-multiple-rate-hikes","tag-newswire-andrew-henshaw","tag-picture","tag-poor-productivity","tag-population","tag-price-changes","tag-productivity-performance","tag-rates","tag-revenue","tag-richest-states","tag-sky-news","tag-snapp-business","tag-some-time","tag-south-australia","tag-state","tag-statistics-figures","tag-tasmania","tag-the-most-interest-rate","tag-the-andrews-and-allan-governments","tag-the-andrews-government","tag-the-ascension","tag-the-beginning","tag-the-country","tag-the-gst","tag-the-last-20-years","tag-the-last-two-years","tag-the-middle-70","tag-the-nation","tag-the-national-average","tag-the-past-two-decades","tag-the-rba","tag-the-rest","tag-the-richest-states","tag-the-second-or-third-poorest-state","tag-the-state","tag-the-state-labor-government","tag-the-type","tag-the-way","tag-the-workforce","tag-this-number","tag-three-times","tag-thursday","tag-top-stories","tag-trimmed","tag-unemployment","tag-unemployment-rate","tag-unemployment-rate-signals","tag-unemployment-rates","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-labor-government-mismanagement","tag-victorian-labor-mismanagement","tag-victorian-unemployment-rise","tag-western-australians","tag-which-measure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}