It’s strange that a country’s economy would be better understood by strippers. This is true though for most countries. Strippers can tell whether the economy is bad or whether unemployment is going up. If you are not sure whether we are in a recession or not, you should speak to strippers. The struggling adult entertainment industry can be a good indicators of the cost of living. In a recession, people would have less disposable cash to spend on things like strip clubs.  If you walked into a strip club now you might realize that the club doesn’t get as full as it used to pre-Covid. This could have something to do with the social distancing alterations that a lot of establishments implemented. The space inside the clubs is more open or it could be that fewer people are frequenting strip clubs these days. Why? Because of the recession.

Is Australia in a recession?

Australia has not yet declared a recession like New Zealand, But a lot of people are expecting Australia to do so. How do you know you are in a recession? A recession is described as the results of going through two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth in a country’s domestic product. Australia has not declared an actual recession since 1990. This is because of a volatile Gross domestic product (GDP) which can weaken without forcing the economy to grind to a complete halt.

What does this have to do with strip clubs?

According to global economic researchers, consumer spending makes the bulk of the economy and growing concerns about affordability has affected discretionary spending. More people have had to slash spending on non-essentials like alcohol, recreation or travel. You know things are bad for the industry when a strip club owner has to supplement his income by finding other sources of income. When work becomes uncertain, exotic dancers will turn to agencies to get bookings outside of the club. However, independent strippers who get private bookings to perform in other venues. There are hundreds of girls looking for work or ways to increase their income. That says a lot about the industry and the economy itself.

Retail sales have gone down across most industries; consumer confidence has weakened as a result of the rising inflation.

There is a general reduction in productivity across the board. There is some confusion over whether we are in a real recession or not. These are other factors that come into the equation like consumer spending, exports, government spending etc. There are some strong steps that government have taken to stem a total economic implosion. Keeping the unemployment rate low is important however there are those who worry about stagflation. This is worrying especially with negative productivity coupled with rising costs. Some people might be looking to dissolve their portfolios and not planning to use that money on things like entertainment. So the strip club industry is definitely feeling the pinch. It is only those clubs that have been able to pivot and take different approaches to get customers into their establishments and dancers working in a safe environment that have seen some gains. Besides, strip clubs have proven resilience time and time again. If you visit a strip club such as Bar 20 you will not notice a recession of any sort there due to how busy this venue can get.