2 weeks Ago
Australian households were facing some reprieve from the cost-of-living crisis, as wages in the country saw an increase faster than inflation for the fourth quarter in a row. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported a 3.5% annual rise in wages for the September quarter, falling short of the predicted 3.
6%. This followed a 4.1% increase in the previous quarter, with inflation steady at 2.
8%, The Guardian reported. Wage Price Index (WPI) growth in Australia was 0.8% during the quarter, which was less than the 0.
9% market forecast. Wages in the public and private sectors increased 3.7% and 3.
5%, respectively. Since September 2022, this is the lowest yearly rate for public sector workers. In contrast, the quarter-over-quarter growth in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was only 0.
2%. The Fair Work Commission's moderate increases to the minimum and award pay rates were a major factor in this alignment, ABC reported. The steady slowdown in wage growth , albeit at a little slower pace than the headline inflation reduction, is expected to reassure the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Wage increases typically lag behind economic growth because of negotiated employer-worker agreements in a labor market that is tight and unemployment is close to historic lows. "The latest decision of a 3.75% wage increase paid from 1 July 2024 was lower than the September quarter 2023 increase of 5.
75%," noted the ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt. "It was also lower than the commission's September quarter 2022 awarded increase of between 4.6% and 5.
2%." Recruitment website Seek showed that, last month, advertised salaries increased by just 0.2%, while year-on-year growth decreased to 3.
6%, ABC reported, adding that these were signs the wages growth will continue to fall..
