Francesca Maria Rizzo

Sixty eight per cent of people who were ‘struggling’ financially described their mental health as fair or poor, compared to 28 per cent of Australians overall. Similarly, 57 per cent of people who were ‘struggling’ reported having fair or poor physical health, compared to 27 per cent of Australians overall.

ANZ’s head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented: “The labour market has been a key source of strength for the Australian economy over the past year, with the strong gain in jobs and declining unemployment rate providing a material offset to the impact of lower house prices. The year ahead looks to be more challenging on the employment front, with ANZ’s Australian Job Ads series declining for the fourth month in a row.