If you can’t remember the last time you received a pay rise, it might mean you suck at your job. Alternatively, you can blame Australian wage growth, which has fallen to the lowest level on record. The latest wage price index from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows just how bleak things have become.
The ABS wage price index measures salary and wage movements among Australian workers. The above graph charts the growth of total hourly wage rates between September 1998 and March 2016 (excluding bonuses.)
Wages increased by just 0.4% during the March quarter, leaving the annual rate of growth at 2.07% after seasonal adjustments. This is the lowest annual increase since the survey first began in 1998.
By state and territory, Tasmania recorded the fastest quarterly increase in wages at 0.7%, while the Northern Territory was the slowest with an increase of just 0.2%. When broken down into specific industries, administrative and support services received the lowest quarterly increase while healthcare, financial services and education / training were the fastest.
Check out the below chart from the ABS to see where your industry placed:
[Via Business Insider]
Comments
4 responses to “This Chart Explains Why You Didn’t Get That Raise”
Surely the wage price index is based on actual wages? i.e. it’s not the cause, just the measurement?
Maybe the cause is that *everyone* sucks at their job.
Or it could be that wages for certain jobs are already high.
Or that the system is falling over.
No I’m going with wages are too high. Sorry it’s not the union line of we all need more money. Quite simply some jobs are ridiculously over paid. Which not only increases cost of living but makes it harder for lower earners as costs increase and drives businesses bust as they cant afford to pay these high wages. We can’t just pay everyone more money as that would drive up inflation making all efforts moot. Wage freezing is a viable means to contain high wages while giving others time to catch up.