Annual wages growth for Queenslanders was 4.7 per cent, which was the best increase since 2006 and the biggest increase in the nation.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that even with all that inflation was running at 5.4 per cent for the year to September, so in real terms wage earners still lost money.

On a national basis, the best wage increases were among those with typically the lowest overall income, led by the accommodation and services sector, which is a major component of the tourism sector. It recorded a 5.5 per cent rise for the year and a 3.2 per cent rise for the quarter.

Health care was running at 4.9 per cent for the year while the arts and recreation sector was at 4.6. Retail and manufacturing were at 4.4 per cent and administrative services 4.3 per cent.

Queensland’s stellar performance was just ahead of WA at 4.6 per cent. Nationally, wages were up by 1.3 per cent and 4 per cent for the year, which was also the highest increase in 14 years.

That was higher than the market expected by only because of revisions for the second quarter, according to ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch.

“We don’t expect today’s data will change the RBA’s thinking ahead of its December meeting, where we expect the RBA to hold cash rates at 4.35 per cent,” Birch said.

She said the increase was largely caused by one-off factors including the award wage increase that led to a 15 per cent rise for aged health care workers.

“While public sector wage growth  continued to pick up, reflecting previous  lifts/removals of wage growth caps, it is the private sector where momentum really continued apace.

“49 per cent of private sector jobs saw a wage change, a  further increase from the abnormally high 46% in Q3 2022. The size of the average hourly wage change also rose to 5.8% from 4.3% this time last year.”