Consumer anxiety about rising unemployment has risen to the highest level since the 1982 recession, a survey shows.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer unemployment expectations index rose 1.3% to a 26-year high in February, even as interest rates were slashed to 1960s levels and the Federal Government announced a new $42 economic stimulus package.
The index rose to 183.07 points in February, the highest reading since November 1982 when the index reached 184.1.
This reading was also the second highest on record since the series began in 1974.
Westpac said recession-level fears of rising joblessness justified the need for aggressive interest rate cuts and federal government handouts to boost spending in the economy.
"Recessionary levels of consumer labour market pessimism ... can only reinforce the consumer impetus to increase savings courtesy of boosts to disposable income from aggressive rate cuts and fiscal handouts," Westpac economists said in a note.
Westpac expects the jobless rate, now at 4.5%, to rise to 5.3% by June, and to 6.3% by December, as employment growth slowed to zero in 2009.
AAP