Australian wages are set to tumble

Advertisement

Australia’s wage price index recorded modest positive growth in real inflation-adjusted terms in the December quarter of 2023:

Australian real wages

Even so, real wages were still 6.9% below their June 2020 peak and tracking at September 2010 levels.

To add further insult to injury, employee cost of living lifted by 6.9% in the 2023 calendar year, according to the ABS:

Advertisement
Employee cost of living

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:
Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe
About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.