“We know that many small businesses have real problems hiring for the jobs they need,” she said Australian Financial Review.
“Offering increased wages is one way to attract talent, although it can be a challenge for companies facing lower consumer spending and associated income.
“It is encouraging to see that survey respondents with more than five employees are likely to increase their workforce, suggesting that despite challenging economic conditions, there is cause for optimism for the coming year.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s budget, 13 percent of businesses said they hoped for more federal government support to hire staff.
“With more than 7.4 million employees, small businesses are the largest employer in the country and account for more than 99 per cent of Australian businesses,” Lea said.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and supporting them in the upcoming federal budget is key to driving economic recovery.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed on Sunday that around 1 million small businesses around the country were queuing up for extra help with their electricity bill in the Budget.
The money will flow from federal and state treasuries.
“We have entered into eight different agreements with different jurisdictions around the country,” said Dr. Chalmers. “But we hope and expect that it will take some of the sting out of these price increases, which are putting pressure on families and households and small businesses.”
The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Monitor showed an increase of 1.8 points last week. While confidence fell in states including NSW, Victoria and South Australia, it rose in Queensland and Western Australia.
Senior Economist Adelaide Timbrell from ANZ said the increase represented the biggest weekly gain since mid-February.
“This was driven by outright home owners, whose confidence rose by 3.7 points on average, compared to more modest increases among renters (+0.5 points) and those paying off their home (+0.6 points).
“This may be due to an increase in housing prices in March and April. Confidence in both finances and the economy rose during the week, with the strongest gain in confidence in ‘future economic conditions’.”
Ms Timbrell said the measure of consumers saying it’s time to buy a major household item fell by 0.4 points in the survey but was still the second-biggest gain since late February.
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