Public servants spared entirely from COVID-19 wage pain

According to last week’s national accounts data for the September quarter, Australia’s public service workforce has been spared entirely from the COVID-19 recession that ravaged the Australian economy.

As shown in the next chart, aggregate compensation of public sector workers rose by 5.5% in the year to September, whereas total private sector employee compensation rose a pitiful 0.3%:

Since June 2015, public sector compensation has grown by 31% versus only 18% growth in private sector compensation:

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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.