Treasurer Jim Chalmers says that inflation is likely to peak at 7.75% in the December quarter then decline over the next two years, while real wage rises will return next financial year, but the ACTU says the forecast only "deepens" the pay crisis, with the resumption of growth in mid-2024 meaning workers will have suffered four years of going backwards.
The WGEA is urging employers to boost part-time workers' access to management roles and implement gender-neutral leave policies, as gender pay gap research shows women make up less than half of the full-time workforce and are out-earned by men at every age.
NSW's Perrottet Government has raised its 2.5% wage ceiling to 3% next financial year and up to 3.5% in 2023-24, in the face of incomes falling behind consumer price inflation and unions taking industrial action seeking to scrap the cap.
As wage stagnation and cost-of-living issues continue to feature in the federal election campaign, a new report shows Australia has experienced the greatest deceleration in real pay growth in the OECD since 2013, despite its relatively strong employment growth and low unemployment, suggesting that policy and institutional factors are the main culprit, rather than market forces.
Women are half as likely as men to engage in digital platform work and earn between 10% and 37% less when they do so, according to a Victorian Government-commissioned report that will inform State-based standards for the gig economy.
Private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses increased by 2.4% annually in the December quarter, unchanged from the September quarter, but accelerated slightly over the last three months of the year, according to the ABS.
Wage rises in private sector enterprise agreements remain marooned at 2.6%, while public sector increases have dropped back to recent trends, according to new Attorney-General's Department data that appears to confirm that the pandemic has accelerated the long-running decline in bargaining.
The ABS has delivered a small boost to hopes that wages growth might exceed restrained government projections after today's quarterly figures showed an annual lift of 1.5% across the economy.
Pay rises in private sector agreements approved in the June quarter reached 3% for the first time in 18 months, despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Attorney-General's Department data bedevilled by an inability to quantify increases for 76,000 workers.
