CBA economists see Australia jobless rate at 5.75% by end-2021

By Sophia Rodrigues

A very bold set of forecasts from CBA economists who have just upgraded their forecasts for Australian economist.

They now expect GDP to grow of 4.2% in 2021 (versus 2.5% previously) and 3.8% in 2022. Importantly, they expect unemployment rate to fall to 5.75% by end-2021 (previous forecast 6.5%) and to 5.0% by the end of 2022.

RBA's baseline forecast is for 6% jobless rate by the end of 2022 but their upside scenario is for 5.5% unemployment rate by end of 2021.