Union calls for a return to industry-wide bargaining to boost workers' earnings have won the backing of the OECD, which says in its annual global employment report that negotiations across industry sectors can lead to "lower wage inequality".
In a development that might fuel debate over the links between union power and wage rises, substantially above-average pay increases secured in the heavily-unionised construction sector have pushed bargained private sector wage rises off their recent historic low.
Academic analysis has revealed that gender equality measures are helping to drive a $24,000 average boost to the pay of top-tier women managers, part-funded by a $4,000 decrease in the pay of their male counterparts, while the overall pay gap among full-time workers is unchanged.
Suppressed wage growth and rising inequality pose a threat to both Australia's economy and its political stability, according to former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, who used a party-sponsored conference on the weekend to confirm that his personal economic settings had been "moved to the left" by the GFC.
Leading online jobs marketplace SEEK has told a Senate inquiry into the future of work that Australians face a "significant shock" as technological forces continue to drive wages down, while the Productivity Commission has warned that digital disruption might ultimately require the introduction of a universal basic income.
United Voice is today staging a protest outside a Melbourne restaurant at the centre of a bartender's underpayments claim and says its investigation of the state's hospitality sector exposes the city as the "wage theft capital of Australia".
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency says "remarkable" growth in employers analysing their data for gender pay gaps means more than half now have formal strategies to address imbalances, but its annual scorecard reveals the overall $26,527 gender pay gap has decreased only marginally.
Private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses are growing at 1.9% a year in trend terms, up from the recent historic low of 1.8%, according to the ABS.
