Wage growth hits an almost 15-year high, ABS data reveals

Wages have experienced the highest annual growth in almost 15 years, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures have revealed.

The data released on Wednesday show wages rose by 4.2 per cent over the year to December, just higher than the inflation rate of 4.1 per cent.

ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said the increase was driven by company-wide annual salary reviews.

“Wage growth for December quarter 2023 saw a higher contribution from jobs covered by enterprise agreements than is typically recorded for a December quarter,” she said.

“Higher growth in the public sector was primarily due to newly implemented enterprise agreements for essential workers in the health care and social assistance and education and training industries following changes to state-based wages policies.”

More to come.