Queensland wages show a burst of life but inflation concerns still lay ahead
Finally, wages have started to show signs of life with the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing that its wage price index jumped 1 per cent in the September quarter and 3.1 per cent for the year.
Inflation has risen again, adding pressure for another rate hike
The ABS said it was the highest quarterly growth in hourly wages in a decade, but public servants appear to have missed out.
While the result would be seen as a good sign, the growth in wages was still well behind inflation, which is expected to reach 8 per cent by the end of the year, which means wages were still going backwards.
The ABS said the growth was primarily from the private sector which grew at twice the rate of the public sector.
The increase in Queensland was 1.4 per cent for the quarter and 3.4 per cent for the year which was the second best annual result in the country, behind Tasmania.
The health care sector, which is the biggest employer in the state, showed a quarterly increase of 1.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent for the year.
“Labour market pressures in the private sector combined with the largest Fair Work Commission award increase in more than a decade saw rises in both the size of average wage changes and the proportion of private sector jobs recording a wage change,” the ABS’s program manager of prices Michelle Marquardt said.
“Nearly half (46.4 per cent) of private sector jobs recorded a change in their hourly wage rate this quarter compared to around a third in the same quarter last year.”
The annual growth rate of 3.1 per cent was the highest since 2013.
The biggest increases were in retail trade at 2.4 per cent for the quarter and 4.2 per cent for the year. That was based on the sector having two award increases during the year.
The education and training sector recorded the lowest quarterly increase of 0.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent for the year.
