South Australia's strong economic and jobs rebound from COVID-19 continues to gain momentum, with a leading independent survey showing the state tops the nation in both business conditions and confidence.
In fact, SA's business conditions are now at their highest level in the history of the NAB Monthly Business Survey (in seasonally adjusted terms) – even higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Business conditions for December jumped 19 points, more than any other state or territory, to reach a national high 32 points – more than double the national level of 14 points.
SA business confidence rose 16 points for the month to reach a national high of 14, above second-placed WA (which rose to 13 points) and well above the national average (4 points).
"By state, WA and SA are outperformers, with employment conditions positive for the past four months," the NAB report said.
It's the latest in a series of recent significant economic reports and surveys (including CommSec's State of the States, Deloitte Access Economics Business Outlook, ANZ/Property Council of Australia and ABS payroll and job vacancies data) which all show SA performing relatively well in terms of its ongoing economic recovery.
"Once again, South Australia is proving to be among the nation's best performers in relation to our strong economic rebound from COVID-19, leading the way in local business confidence and conditions," said Mr Lucas.
"Not only do we now lead the country in relation to business confidence and conditions – it's pleasing to see business conditions here are now at their highest level in the history of the NAB Monthly Business Survey… even higher than pre-pandemic levels.
"While we welcome this positive sentiment, we know there's much more work to be done which is why we are investing a record $4 billion in stimulus to turbo charge our economy over the next two years."
