Rich Lister boss Tim Gurner claims unemployment needs to rise by 50 per cent – and he’s most scathing about one group who are ‘paid too much’

A millionaire property developer has brutally woke up arrogant workers and said the unemployment rate must rise by 40 to 50 percent.

Gurner Group CEO Tim Gurner, 40, argued that the Covid pandemic had changed many workers’ attitudes to their jobs.

The Rich Lister said employees should remember they worked for their boss, not the other way around.

“We need to see pain in the economy,” Gurner said at the Australian Financial Review’s Property Summit on Tuesday.

‘We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.’

A 50 percent increase from the current unemployment rate of 3.7 percent to 5.6 percent would see 275,000 Australians lose their jobs.

“We need to see pain in the economy,” Gurner said at the Australian Financial Review’s Property Summit on Tuesday

The Reserve Bank expects an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent by the end of 2024.

Mr Gurner took particular aim at traditions that claimed productivity had fallen since the Covid pandemic.

“People decided because of Covid they didn’t want to work as much and that created a huge problem with productivity,” he said.

‘Tradies have certainly reduced productivity. They have paid a lot in recent years not to do too much, and we need to see that change.”

A major problem in the labor market was that workers felt their bosses were “extremely lucky” to have them, Mr Gurner added.

He said mindsets need to change, noting that many industries were already experiencing major layoffs, which was already helping to change the “arrogance” of some workers.

“People are certainly laying people off and we are starting to see less arrogance in the labor market and that has to continue because that will feed into the cost balance,” he said.

Mr. Gurner leads a company with a $9.5 billion development and management portfolio.

This year he came in at number 192 on the Rich 250 list, with an estimated net worth of $677 million.

Mr Gurner made headlines in 2017 when he told 60 Minutes that millennials had unrealistic spending habits and famously suggested they stop eating broken avocado if they wanted to buy a house.

“When I was trying to buy my first house, I didn’t buy a smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees for $4 each,” he said.

‘The expectations of young people are very high. They want to eat out every day, they want to travel to Europe every year.

‘This generation looks at The Kardashians and thinks it’s normal. Thinking that owning a Bentley is normal.’

Mr Gurner sparked controversy in 2017 when he said millennials should stop wasting money on broken avocado if they wanted to buy a house.

His comments sparked outrage among Generation Y, with many claiming that Mr Gurner was only successful because his grandfather lent him $34,000 for his first investment.

The multi-millionaire hit back, claiming it was ‘wrong’ that he was given help to get into the property market.

His first investment property was a flat his boss bought for $180,000 in Melbourne’s St Kilda.

He said he was offered to do renovation work while his boss doled out the money.

“I spent every night on my hands and knees sanding back the floors, painting, renovating and working on the house. When we sold it, I used the small $12,000 profit to buy my next property, and it all grew from there,” he said.

“I sacrificed a lot during those years, working multiple jobs, seven days a week and saving absolutely every penny I could.”

He said he used the $12,000 — plus a $34,000 loan from his grandfather — to borrow $150,000 to buy a gym, which he renovated and turned into a thriving business.

He ran the gym for 12 months before selling it to a competitor. He started his career as a property developer and founded his company Gurner in 2013.

Mr. Gurner’s company had a real estate portfolio of just under $10 billion