By Millie Muroi
Publication Date: 2026-01-05 04:00:00
“I think what has happened is that there is now a little more awareness that inflation is probably going to be a little higher than what we saw in the decade from 2010 to 2020,” he says, with companies having to think about both the extent to which they can adjust their prices and how they can manage costs through productivity improvements.
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Productivity was at the forefront of politics last year. Treasurer Jim Chalmers hosted a roundtable on economic reform in August aimed at finding ways to revive the country’s sluggish growth in living standards, and the Productivity Commission made 47 reform recommendations last year aimed at boosting the measure.
Finding ways to increase productivity growth was also among the top challenges cited by business leaders in 2026, with more than two-thirds (35 percent) ranking it among their top five.
Despite the challenges, Yates notes that businesses are more optimistic than they were 12 to 18 months ago and that concerns such as staff shortages have eased.
