What did Tim Gurner say? Property developer sparks mass outrage over remarks on unemployment

An Australian multi-millionaire property developer named Tim Gurner recently came under fire when he stated that unemployment should rise up to 50 percent in the country as workers have turned "arrogant" following the COVID-19 pandemic. He made the controversial comment during the Property Summit of the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday, September 12.

“We need to see pain in the economy,” stated Tim Gurner during Tuesday’s summit.

As per The Independent, the statement was aimed at the reduction in post-COVID work rates, especially in the construction industry. Not only that, but the Gurner Group CEO also mentioned how productivity has gone way down because, during the pandemic, people were paid more and did not do much in return.

Unfortunately for Tim Gurner, his comments not only triggered controversy but also mass outrage on the internet, with netizens slamming him for his entitled remarks.

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“Stop calling these people job creators”: Tim Gurner faces severe backlash in the wake of his unemployment remark

On September 12, a multi-millionaire property developer from Australia named Tim Gurner was in attendance at the Australian Financial Review’s Property Summit, where he made several controversial statements. He began by saying:

“I think the problem that we have had is that people decided they didn’t really wanna work so much anymore through COVID, and that just has had a massive issue on productivity.”

He further continued by saying how workers have pulled back on productivity and that they were overpaid and underworked in the last few years in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this needed to change.

“We need to see unemployment rise. Unemployment has to jump 40 to 50 percent in my view…We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.”

In addition, Tim Gurner mentioned how there has been a "systematic change" where the employees have begun to feel that the employers should feel "extremely lucky" to have them work for them.

The property developer also explained how, in his opinion, the current employee-employer dynamic needs to change, and the "attitude" of the workers needs to be killed.

“That has to come through by hurting the economy, which is what the whole global - the world - is trying to do. The governments around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality, and we are seeing it.”

Tim Gurner wrapped up by saying how every employer has started to see and acknowledge the change, which is why there have been massive layoffs, which has in turn ensured "less arrogance in the employment market."

As soon as the footage from the summit surfaced on social media platforms, users called Tim Gurner off for his controversial remarks and chastised him.

Apart from facing public backlash, Tim Gurner has also triggered fury among fellow business leaders including Spence Rodgers, the CEO of Ihm Luxury. He took to LinkedIn to share his disappointment in Gurner and said that the latter's statements were a testament to class warfare. He also mentioned how the likes of Gurner leveled “personal pain on millions of workers” to keep their own money flowing.

“What words could I possibly use to describe someone so incredibly st*pid, callous, fragile, and worthless?” he added.

Likewise, tennis legend Martina Navratilova also slammed Gurner Group CEO calling him an "utter p*nk," on X.

Two days after his comments, Tim Gurner told The Guardian in a statement that his wishing pain on the economy remark was “wrong.” He also acknowledged that his comments were “deeply insensitive” and that he regretted making them.

Meanwhile, The Independent reported that he has an estimated worth of 600 million USD, while his firm is valued at 6.4 billion USD.

Interestingly, this was not the first time Gurner made such an incendiary comment. Earlier, in 2017, he asked the millennials to stop purchasing avocados if they wished to afford their first home.

It is important to note that the current rate of unemployment in Australia stands at 3.6 percent, meaning nearly 500,000 people have no jobs.