Business Financial Distress Nears COVID Levels as Sole Trader Numbers Rise

Australian dollar coins and banknotes in Melbourne, Australia on April 4, 2024. AAP Image/Joel CarrettThe volume of businesses struggling to pay their debts in Australia is on track to exceed the heights set during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two reports on the nation’s economic health.Up to 13 percent of working-age Australians and 47 percent of secondary school students want to work for themselves or start a business, but that’s not translating into a pipeline of new enterprises, according to the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).