6345.0 - Wage Price Index, Australia, Mar 2019 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/05/2019   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All
MEDIA RELEASE
15 May 2019
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
98/2019
Wages rise 0.5% in the March quarter 2019


The seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.5 per cent in the March quarter 2019 and 2.3 per cent through the year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Seasonally adjusted private sector wage growth was 0.5 per cent, and 0.4 per cent for the public sector in the March quarter.

ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said: "Annual wages in seasonally adjusted terms grew 2.3 per cent for the third quarter in a row. The main contributors to growth over the quarter were regularly scheduled wage rises in the Health care and social assistance and Education and training industries, as was the case in the previous March quarter."

In original terms, annual wages growth to the March quarter 2019 by industry ranged from 1.8 per cent for Construction and the Information, media and telecommunication services industries to 3.0 per cent for Health care and social assistance.

Western Australia recorded the lowest through the year wage growth of 1.6 per cent while Victoria recorded the highest of 2.7 per cent.

Further information is available in Wage Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6345.0), available for free download from the ABS website: https://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.
  • For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070 (8.30 am - 5pm Mon-Fri).
  • Subscribe to our email notification service and get media releases or products sent to you on release.