Real income in Australia shrinks as wage growth trails behind inflation
- Claire Lee
- Topics: Australia, Compensation and Benefits, Home Page - News, News
Workers in Australia have seen their wages rise by 0.7% to 2.4% in the March 2022 quarter, according to data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, this fell short of the inflation rate for the March quarter, at 5.1%.
In terms of sectors, rental, hiring and real estate services had the highest annual wage growth at 3.1%. This is followed by manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical services, which experienced a wage growth of 2.7%. Meanwhile, electricity, gas, water and waste services saw the least wage growth at only 1.5%.
New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania recorded the highest quarterly rise of 0.6%, while the Northern Territory recorded the lowest quarterly growth rate at 0.3%.
READ: Employers in Australia warn against further minimum wage raise
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has highlighted that the gap between inflation and workers’ pay rises meant workers were on track to be A$4,000 (US$2,788) worse off on average this year in real terms, or five times the loss in 2021, reports The Guardian.
