Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Does the OECD 2009 Employment outlook annual report contain an assessment of the role of fiscal stimulus packages in other countries and how well they have supported jobs in their economies? Does this assessment include an outlook on the general employment situation in other advanced economies? Is there any kind of warning in the report about the dangers of allowing unemployment to rise further? In particular, does the report raise concerns with difficulties faced in getting people back to work after they have been out of work for a lengthy period of time and after a recession? What do the unemployment forecasts for Australia and for the other OECD economies contained in the report tell us about the prospects of a recovery from this global recession?