![[Australia] Reacting to the strongest wage growth in over a decade](http://gpa.net/cdn/shop/articles/bigstock-Preparing-the-Rod-Laver-Arena--113479130_1200x.jpg?v=1701145823)
Australia’s September quarter wage growth of 1.3 per cent was the largest increase on record but it came in line with the majority of expectations. It should not provoke the RBA to raise rates, The Guardian reports.
Nevertheless, the September figures stand out - particularly for the private sector, with a 1.4 per cent jump - breaking the quarterly record of 1.2 per cent that occurred back in June 2008:
Nearly half (49 per cent) of workers in the private sector received a pay rise in July, August or September. The average rise was a strong 5.8 per cent.
The September quarter is reportedly the time when most workers get a pay rise. It is the start of the new financial year when many enterprise agreements have scheduled pay rises and the quarter in which all workers on awards get a pay rise.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) gave workers on awards a 5.75 per cent pay rise and The Guardian states that added to the mix this year is the 15 per cent wage rise won by aged care workers. Together with individual agreements, this means a rather abnormal increase in one quarter that we know will not be replicated in the next figures.
In this context, the fact that 40 per cent of people who got a pay rise in the September quarter received one larger than 4 per cent is unsurprising.
That number might be expected to decline next quarter, however, it is reportedly evident that there have been solid increases in wages over the past 12 months - from the 3.2 per cent annual growth this time last year - to 4.0 per cent now.
But one good quarter cannot undo the challenges of the past few years.
In the September quarter, inflation rose 1.2 per cent. Private-sector workers saw their real wages improve yet compared with 2022 they remain worse off. The 4.2 per cent annual rise in private-sector wages is significantly behind the 5.4 per cent growth of the CPI. And over the past three and half years, prices have outstripped wages.
The value of wages in real terms remains more than 5 per cent below where it was before the pandemic. According to The Guardian, despite the small improvement in September, the purchasing power of people’s wages remains back where it was 14 years ago in 2009.
Real wages have stopped falling but the path back to pre-pandemic levels is a long one.
One thing we are starting to see is private-sector wages getting back in sync with service prices:
The Guardian says that the RBA will pay particular attention to that as they have repeatedly stated they are worried about service prices and remain ever-vigilant that wages will begin to grow “unsustainably”.
But given the historic falls in real wages, workers are unsurprisingly seeking redress.
Source: The Guardian
(Links and quotes via original reporting)
Australia’s September quarter wage growth of 1.3 per cent was the largest increase on record but it came in line with the majority of expectations. It should not provoke the RBA to raise rates, The Guardian reports.
Nevertheless, the September figures stand out - particularly for the private sector, with a 1.4 per cent jump - breaking the quarterly record of 1.2 per cent that occurred back in June 2008:
Nearly half (49 per cent) of workers in the private sector received a pay rise in July, August or September. The average rise was a strong 5.8 per cent.
The September quarter is reportedly the time when most workers get a pay rise. It is the start of the new financial year when many enterprise agreements have scheduled pay rises and the quarter in which all workers on awards get a pay rise.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) gave workers on awards a 5.75 per cent pay rise and The Guardian states that added to the mix this year is the 15 per cent wage rise won by aged care workers. Together with individual agreements, this means a rather abnormal increase in one quarter that we know will not be replicated in the next figures.
In this context, the fact that 40 per cent of people who got a pay rise in the September quarter received one larger than 4 per cent is unsurprising.
That number might be expected to decline next quarter, however, it is reportedly evident that there have been solid increases in wages over the past 12 months - from the 3.2 per cent annual growth this time last year - to 4.0 per cent now.
But one good quarter cannot undo the challenges of the past few years.
In the September quarter, inflation rose 1.2 per cent. Private-sector workers saw their real wages improve yet compared with 2022 they remain worse off. The 4.2 per cent annual rise in private-sector wages is significantly behind the 5.4 per cent growth of the CPI. And over the past three and half years, prices have outstripped wages.
The value of wages in real terms remains more than 5 per cent below where it was before the pandemic. According to The Guardian, despite the small improvement in September, the purchasing power of people’s wages remains back where it was 14 years ago in 2009.
Real wages have stopped falling but the path back to pre-pandemic levels is a long one.
One thing we are starting to see is private-sector wages getting back in sync with service prices:
The Guardian says that the RBA will pay particular attention to that as they have repeatedly stated they are worried about service prices and remain ever-vigilant that wages will begin to grow “unsustainably”.
But given the historic falls in real wages, workers are unsurprisingly seeking redress.
Source: The Guardian
(Links and quotes via original reporting)