CBA chief economist Stephen Halmarick believes that Australian wages will rise swiftly on the back of Australia’s closed international border and near zero immigration:
“We’re seeing the impact of skills shortages on businesses now, and that’s only going to get worse as the next year goes by, before the international borders open,” Mr Halmarick said…
Mr Halmarick said CBA was seeing wage pressures emerging: “Certainly that’s the feedback I am getting from clients”…
“We actually think we will see wages growth accelerate faster then Reserve Bank [of Australia] expectation. So, by the end of next year we have wages growth at 2.7 per cent, perhaps a little bit higher than that”…
“Vacancies have surged across a whole range of industries. Those industries that have a higher concentration of foreign workers, like hospitality, have an incredibly high number of vacancies,” said CBA economist Gareth Aird.
Stephen Halmarick also believes that rebooting immigration to pre-COVID levels will be a tough sell for the Australian public, which will welcome the lower population pressures and rising wage growth:
“It will be an interesting policy choice for Australia in 12 months’ time… Wages growth will be higher and the unemployment rate lower, perhaps at 4.5 per cent, while borders are closed.
“Less population growth, higher wages, and a lower unemployment rate: I can imagine there will be a lot of Australians who think that’s a pretty good combination.”
Exactly. Low wage growth has been a constant problem for the Australian economy.
Rebooting immigration is solving these problems before our very eyes, while also improving livability in our major cities.
Why would Australians want to give these gains up solely to make the owners of capital richer?
Labor should capitalise on this sentiment and take a lower immigration platform to the upcoming federal election.
