Image:Image: Ulet Ifansasti/CIFOR: Flickr
Expectations that the government will be able to finance Australians with budget surpluses have been cast aside, after Josh Frydenberg unveiled the 2021 Intergenerational report.
The report revealed that Australia’s ageing population has experienced a fall in the birth rate and the inflow of migrants since COVID, and that the increases in health care and aged care spending will prevent the government from returning a budget surplus in the next forty years, unless they increase taxation.
The report also showed that the ratio of working age people to those at retirement age is still dropping. In the 1980s, there were more than six people working for every Australian aged over 65. In 2021, that has dropped to just four workers and by 2060 it will be 2.7 workers.
Produced By: Andrew Herlinger
Featured In Story: Josh Frydenberg, Federal Treasurer, and Peter Martin, Business and Economic Editor, The Conversation
First aired on The Wire, Monday 28 June 2021