"Immigration statistically masked last year’s recession.In 2023 total national gross domestic product (GDP), or output, rose by 1.5 per cent in four successive quarterly bumps of 0.6, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 per cent.However per capita GDP – dividing GDP by population – fell 1 per cent in 2023, in four successive quarterly declines. In the March quarter it fell by just one dollar, from $22,821 to $22,820, but then the falls in the other three quarters of 2023 were -0.3, -0.5 and -0.3 per cent.That is still four consecutive declines – something that hasn’t happened since the 1982 recession. But in 1982, and 1991, per capita GDP fell because total GDP fell and per capita GDP went with it. They were recessions. But this time it isn’t, at least not officially."
