With inflation outpacing wage growth, NZ incomes are effectively going backwards. Australia’s collective bargaining rules could offer a remedy.
Articles on Wage growth
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Obviously, the government can’t set wages directly. But research shows recent policies that have increased worker power are associated with strong wage growth.
In recent decades the institutions shaping wages have been transformed. Employers today enjoy far greater bargaining power.
Dental assistants, community services workers, pharmacists and psychologists are in line for biggger increases down the track.
The economy is expected to grow and there are other positive signs ahead but the mid-year economic update has revealed the government will need to keep inflation in check.
Adjusted for inflation, Australians are being paid less than they were in 2020. These 4 charts show what’s changed in how we work – and the growing gap between your pay and what you can afford to buy.
A strong revenue flow, including from a pick-up in wages, appears to have made it possible for the government to do somewhat more on welfare payments than it originally intended
Labour’s share of national income has declined since the 1970s, but there is no sense of any permanent trend.
The pay gap is growing in UK, which has seen increased strike activity this year.
Asked how high an inflation rate Australia should prepare to tolerate, three of the 48 economists nominated 8% or higher. Seven expected inflation to fall without the need for further action.
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Tony Burke advocates on wages and arts
Michelle Grattan speaks with Tony Burke the minister for employment and workplace relations and minister for the arts, as well as the leader of the House of Representatives.
Despite Albanese’s campaign hiccups, at the end of this penultimate week, based on the objective evidence, the election appears to be his to lose.
A tighter labour market than in the past is now needed to drive real wages growth.
If we want higher wages, we must win them through deliberate wage-boosting policies.
There is enough momentum for Australia’s unemployment rate to go lower than 4.2% in 2022. Keeping it low is another matter.
The Conversation’s best graphs have removed doubt, surprised, and told entire stories.
Even now much of the recovery in employment seems to be happening without big wage increases.
True wages growth, and true price growth, is probably less than the official figures suggest – meaning there’s no need for alarm about inflation in Australia.
The unemployment decline isn’t as impressive as it first appears, and wages growth remains sluggish.
Only five of the 56 economists surveyed believed lower immigration would boost wage growth. The rest backed measures to lift productivity and investment and changes that boosted the power of unions.
Top contributors
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Scientia Professor of Economics, UNSW
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Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Professor of Economics, The University of Melbourne
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Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work, Australia Institute; Honorary Professor of Political Economy, University of Sydney
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Visiting Fellow, College of Business & Economics, Australian National University
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Program Director, Housing and Economic Security, Grattan Institute
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Professor in Working Life, Discipline of Business Information Systems, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney
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Director, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University
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Professor of Management, Co-Director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management
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Professor of Political Economy, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs, UMass Boston
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Associate Professor, POLIS@ANU Centre for Social Policy Research, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, The University of Melbourne
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Professor, Finance, The University of Western Australia