Wages lift 3.4% in year to December as expected
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The news: Wages lifted 3.4% over the year to December, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This was in line with expectations.
The numbers: The growth was slightly higher than the 3.3% rate over the year to September, which was revised down.
The growth rate over the December quarter was 0.8%, which was also in line with expectations and followed another 0.8% result in the September quarter.
Both public and private sector wages grew 0.8% quarter on quarter. On an annual basis, public sector wage growth was 4% while private sector wage growth was 2.8%.
The context: NAB economists said in a note that there was “nothing view-shifting for us or the RBA” in the latest wage price index (WPI) data. Looking ahead, the economists flagged that while temporary factors should fade “current labour market conditions do not point to much additional cooling in the near term”.
“WPI dynamics will do little to offset the RBA’s concerns around broader measures of labour costs and capacity constraints,” the NAB economists said.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the data shows “annual wages have grown above 3% for 14 quarters in a row. This is the longest streak of wages growth above 3% in more than a decade and a half”.
The sources: NAB research, Treasurer Jim Chalmers media release
