The survey finds nearly three times as many (34%) small businesses believe that the laws will hurt productivity compared with only 12% that believe the laws will help. Commenting on the MYOB survey today, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said: This latest survey shows that small businesses are worried about the impact of the Howard Governments IR laws on their own employees. The survey finds two in five (40%) small businesses agree that the new IR laws are not fair to many employees and that 42% believe the new laws are unfair to low-skilled employees in particular. Small businesses have traditionally been big supporters of the Howard Government, but this survey shows that many are now turning their backs on the new workplace laws. The survey results dispel the Howard Governments mantra that the new IR laws are a boon to the economy and will create vast numbers of jobs. The MYOB survey also comes after a recent report by leading economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel that says the new laws will do nothing to assist the growth of the Australian economy. According to BIS Shrapnels Economic Outlook bulletin the Governments failure to invest in skills, training and public infrastructure is threatening to seriously constrain the future growth of the Australian economy and could lead to future interest rate raises. These independent reports show that the Federal Governments new industrial relations laws have nothing to do with helping the economy and everything to do with increasing big business profits at the expense of the job security, working conditions, wages and living standards of working families, said Ms Burrow.