Pandemic blows hole in Australia population goal but migration recovering

The COVID pandemic has blown a million-person hole in Australia’s population projections in a challenge for an economy that has relied on having more
consumers to drive growth, though a speedy recovery in migration promises to soften the blow.
Data in the government’s 2022 Population Statement out on Friday also showed COVID-19 lowered life expectancy for the first time in decades, though the impact in Australia was modest compared to many of its developed world peers.
Pandemic border closures in 2020 and 2021 saw population growth crater to just 0.1%, far below the 1.6% average of the previous decade, while net migration turned negative for the first time since World War Two.
One result has been a widespread shortage of suitable labour and a drop in the jobless rate to a 48-year low of 3.4%, pushing up wages and adding to inflationary pressures.