Earn
Wage growth still slipping
New information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Australian workers are continuing to struggle for a pay rise.
Wage growth still slipping
New information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Australian workers are continuing to struggle for a pay rise.
Pay packets grew by 2.2 per cent in the year to September, falling further behind the long-term growth trend of 3.3 per cent.
In seasonally adjusted terms, wages grew by 0.5 per cent for the September quarter.
It’s a slight fall from the 0.6 per cent quarterly growth in the year to June.
Chief economist at the ABS Bruce Hockman said “the rate of annual wage growth eased slightly in September after being stable over the past year, continuing to grow at a slightly faster rate than consumer prices over the past year”.
Public sector wage growth has continued to outpace the private sector, having grown by 2.5 per cent, compared with 2.2 per cent.
The ABS indicated that the September quarter usually has the highest growth as the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review, enterprise agreements and annual financial salary reviews all kick in.
It said that this year’s wage growth was triggered by enterprise agreements and financial salary review, while the Fair Work Commission’s review had a lesser impact.
Victoria had the highest through the year growth of 2.8 per cent, while Western Australia recorded the lowest at just 1.6 per cent for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Weighing in on the analysis, Indeed has outlined that a rise in unemployment for the September quarter led to weakening salary growth for employees.
Despite the appearance of lower wage growth, Indeed’s APAC economist, Callam Pickering, said that in real-world terms, the wages of Australians have increased significantly.
In a tweet, Mr Pickering said: “Wage growth, adjusted for inflation, rose by 0.8 per cent over the past year.”
“With inflation now so low, real wage growth has climbed well above its average over the past six years.”
RELATED ARTICLES
About the author
About the author
Salary
Despite losing top spot, Elon Musk rakes in $400,000 hourly
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur known for his involvement in a wide range of innovative and technological businesses, has recently been dethroned as the wealthiest individual in the world, with Bernard ...Read more
Salary
Rising unemployment and skill shortages prompt Australian businesses to look globally for talent
Australia has witnessed its unemployment rate surging above 4% for the first time in two years, revealed by the latest Labour Force data. Read more
Salary
New findings link job mobility hurdles to stagnant wage growth
Recent research from the e61 Institute has unearthed significant links between slow wage growth in Australia and obstacles to job mobility, including non-compete clauses, complicated occupational ...Read more
Salary
Employers scrambling to prevent workplace brain drain
As workplace managers face a swiftly evolving employment market that’s increasingly favouring the demands of white-collar employees and jobseekers, bosses are falling under mounting pressure to ...Read more
Salary
Unions back Albanese’s pledge to close gender pay gap
An electoral promise from Labor to make gender pay equity an objective of the Fair Work Act has been hailed as a “watershed moment” from industry peak bodies who have traditionally advocated for ...Read more
Salary
Coles asked to disprove $115m in alleged wage theft
One of Australia’s biggest supermarkets faces allegations that it underpaid more than 7,500 employees a total of $115 million. Read more
Salary
Gen Z left behind in progress to gender equality
Women under 25 may emerge from the pandemic in a worse financial position than when it began, new research has shown. Read more
Salary
Show me the money: I deserve a COVID recognition payment, and so do you
Staff are currently in high demand. But they’re also mostly overworked, overtired, underplayed and underpaid. Read more
Salary
Despite losing top spot, Elon Musk rakes in $400,000 hourly
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur known for his involvement in a wide range of innovative and technological businesses, has recently been dethroned as the wealthiest individual in the world, with Bernard ...Read more
Salary
Rising unemployment and skill shortages prompt Australian businesses to look globally for talent
Australia has witnessed its unemployment rate surging above 4% for the first time in two years, revealed by the latest Labour Force data. Read more
Salary
New findings link job mobility hurdles to stagnant wage growth
Recent research from the e61 Institute has unearthed significant links between slow wage growth in Australia and obstacles to job mobility, including non-compete clauses, complicated occupational ...Read more
Salary
Employers scrambling to prevent workplace brain drain
As workplace managers face a swiftly evolving employment market that’s increasingly favouring the demands of white-collar employees and jobseekers, bosses are falling under mounting pressure to ...Read more
Salary
Unions back Albanese’s pledge to close gender pay gap
An electoral promise from Labor to make gender pay equity an objective of the Fair Work Act has been hailed as a “watershed moment” from industry peak bodies who have traditionally advocated for ...Read more
Salary
Coles asked to disprove $115m in alleged wage theft
One of Australia’s biggest supermarkets faces allegations that it underpaid more than 7,500 employees a total of $115 million. Read more
Salary
Gen Z left behind in progress to gender equality
Women under 25 may emerge from the pandemic in a worse financial position than when it began, new research has shown. Read more
Salary
Show me the money: I deserve a COVID recognition payment, and so do you
Staff are currently in high demand. But they’re also mostly overworked, overtired, underplayed and underpaid. Read more
