The trouble is that Australia’s economy suffers from one of the same structural problems as ours. We haven’t come close to troubling our potential growth rate, regardless of how low it is now. Australia still has a much lower unemployment rate – it currently sits at just 4.10%. If the central bank forecasts hold through until 2028, we may actually have a marginally lower unemployment rate than Australia. The RBNZ has unemployment falling to 4.5% by March, while the RBA has Australia’s rate rising to 4.6% by June 2028.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 14, 2026 22:03 UTC