Australia must fix these things to improve productivity

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released wage data for the December quarter, which revealed that real inflation-adjusted wages fell by 0.3% in 2025, tracking at the same level as December 2011.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest Statement of Monetary Policy also projected that real wages won’t recover over its forecast horizon and will still be tracking at their late 2011 level in mid-2028.

Many readers are probably wondering why their material living standards aren’t improving following the pandemic inflation shock.

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

Share

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.