Australian wages can’t buy what they used to
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Earlier this month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the Q4 2024 wage price index, which recorded growth of 0.7% for the quarter and 3.2% year over year.

The 0.7% quarterly increase was the equal lowest growth since Q1 2022, while the annual increase of 3.2% was the equal lowest since Q3 2022.
The following chart plots real wage growth, deflated by headline CPI and underlying (trimmed mean) inflation.
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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.