Source: Bloomberg

Story By: Michael Heath

Australian retail sales will rebound from a 20-year low next fiscal year as resource-fueled hiring and wage growth outpace higher household savings, according to a Deloitte Access Economics report.

Retail sales will advance 1.3 percent in the 12 months ending June 30, the worst fiscal-year result in two decades, the Canberra-based research company said in a report today. Sales will gain 2.2 percent in 2011-12 and 3.3 percent in 2012-13 as the household savings rate levels out, it said.

Australia’s “economic strength will help support a robust rate of jobs growth,” said David Rumbens, an analyst at Access. “Dividends from the resources boom may be difficult to separately identify for most retailers, but they will be supporting a range of broad economic indicators, such as jobs, wage growth, profits and government revenues.”

Australian retail sales surged in April by the most in 17 months as the economy recovered from its worst quarterly contraction in two decades. Woolworths Ltd. (WOW), the nation’s biggest retailer, said in April that third-quarter sales rose 5.1 percent on higher demand at its supermarkets.

To read the full story, follow this link: www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-07/australia-retail-sales-to-rise-from-two-decade-low-access-says.html