The seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.5 per cent in the September quarter 2019 and 2.2 per cent through the year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Seasonally adjusted, private sector wages rose 2.2 per cent and public sector wages grew 2.5 per cent through the year to September quarter 2019.
The ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman stated "The rate of annual wage growth eased slightly in September after being stable over the past year, continuing to grow at a slightly faster rate than consumer prices over the past year. The largest contribution to wage growth over the quarter was jobs in the health care and social assistance industry."
In original terms, quarterly wage growth was driven by enterprise agreements and annual financial year salary reviews, and to a lesser extent the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review decision.
Annual wage growth to the September quarter 2019 across industries ranged from 1.7 per cent for information media and telecommunication services to 3.2 per cent for health care and social assistance.
Victoria recorded the highest through the year growth of 2.8 per cent while Western Australia recorded the lowest of 1.6 per cent for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Further information is available in Wage Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6345.0), available for free download from the ABS website: http://www.abs.gov.au/.
Media notes
- When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
- The Wage Price Index as reported in cat.no. 6345.0, publishes estimates of the change in hourly rates of pay, unaffected by changes in the composition of the labour force. The survey of Average Weekly Earnings (6302.0) can be affected by changes in both the level of earnings per employee and in the composition of the labour force.
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