Advertisement
The Australian Retailers Association’s (ARA) revised submission to the annual wage review has urged the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to increase the minimum wage by only 3.5% – less half the rate of inflation.
The ARA had previously called for a minimum wage rise of 3.8%, but has scaled this back in response to data showing that the annual inflation rate has eased to 7.0%.
The ACTU in turn has told the FWC that inflation is still high and causing hardship for workers on low pay. While the Australian Industry Group (AIG) has cautioned that the ACTU’s “reckless” proposed minimum wage rise of 7% could heighten the risk of inflation becoming entrenched.
The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers
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.
Advertisement