Research by AlphaBeta and Illion showed that consumer spending has skyrocketed for the week ending 12 July despite a strong upward trend in unemployment.
In the week to 12 July, 581,000 people applied to withdraw their super early, according to data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released on Monday, 20 July.
Of these, 109,000 were first-time applications, while 472,000 people were applying for a second withdrawal of up to $10,000.
Over this same week, data from the Illion and AlphaBeta report showed that retail spending spiked 17 per cent above normal levels.
The research also showed a second tailwind for consumer spending, the impact of $750 stimulus payments that will shortly arrive in the bank accounts of 5 million Australians as part of the next round of stimulus payments.
“The new data has revealed that almost all of the growth in spending above normal levels was due to stimulus and super. When those who were eligible for the stimulus and received super were removed from the sample, average spending was actually 2 per cent below normal levels,” the researchers said.
According to AlphaBeta, this is a good sign, with spending returning to almost pre-COVID levels even without government support.
There has been a significant improvement across category spend in Australia from nine weeks ago:
- Gyms and fitness have moved up 70 points to 25 per cent below pre-COVID levels.
- Public transport continues to improve slowly, up 23 points to 57 per cent below pre-COVID levels.
- Department store spending continues to help the economy, now up 54 per cent from pre-COVID levels.
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