Wage Price Index, Australia

Latest release

The WPI measures changes in the price of labour, unaffected by compositional shifts in the labour force, hours worked or employee characteristics

Reference period
June 2025
Released
13/08/2025
  • Next Release 19/11/2025
    Wage Price Index, Australia, September 2025
  • Next Release 18/02/2026
    Wage Price Index, Australia, December 2025
  • Next Release 13/05/2026
    Wage Price Index, Australia, March 2026
  • View all releases
Release date and time
13/08/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

  • The seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.8% this quarter.
  • Over the twelve months to the June 2025 quarter, the WPI rose 3.4%.
  • The private sector rose 0.8% and the public sector rose 1.0%, seasonally adjusted, over the quarter.
  • In original terms, the largest industry contributors to quarterly wages growth were Professional, scientific and technical services (+0.9%) and Public administration and safety (+1.1%).

Main features

  1. See Interpretation of index numbers, Percentage change and rounding on the Methodology page.
Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses
  Mar Qtr 2025 to Jun Qtr
2025(a)
(% change)
Jun Qtr 2024 to Jun Qtr
2025(a)
(% change)
Trend(b)Australia0.83.4
Private sector0.83.3
Public sector1.03.6
Seasonally Adjusted(c)Australia0.83.4
Private sector0.83.4
Public sector1.03.7
OriginalAustralia0.63.4
Private sector0.63.3
Public sector0.83.7
  1. See Interpretation of index numbers, Percentage change and rounding on the Methodology page.
  2. See Interpretation of index numbers, Trend estimates on the Methodology page.
  3. See Interpretation of index numbers, Seasonally adjusted indexes and Seasonal analysis methods on the Methodology page.

Overview

Seasonally adjusted, the WPI rose 0.8% this quarter. Private sector wages rose 0.8% and were the main contributor to growth, while public sector wages rose 1.0%. 

Annual wage growth was 3.4% in the June quarter 2025, the same as from March quarter 2025, but lower than the same period last year (+4.1%).

Over the 12 months to June, private sector wages rose 3.4%, up from 3.3% in the March quarter 2025. This was lower than the annual rise recorded in June quarter 2024 (+4.1%). 

The public sector annual rise was 3.7%, up from 3.6% in March quarter 2025. This was lower than the 3.9% recorded in the June quarter 2024.

  1. See Interpretation of index numbers, Percentage change and rounding on the Methodology page.

Annualised wage changes

For jobs with a wage change over the previous 12 months, the share that recorded an annualised movement greater than 4% has decreased each successive quarter since June quarter 2024. 

This quarter, 25% of jobs recorded an annualised wage change greater than 4%, compared to 46% of jobs in June quarter 2024.

  1. Index series is original, total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses.
  2. Share of jobs that experienced a wage change, smoothed using a four quarter trailing average.
  3. Excludes jobs that did not receive a wage change in the previous four quarters.

Individual arrangements drive quarterly wage growth

Jobs in the Australian labour market have their method of setting pay categorised as:

  • Awards,
  • Enterprise agreements, or
  • Individual arrangements.

In June quarter 2025, jobs covered by individual arrangement made the largest contribution to quarterly wages growth (55%) of the three methods of setting pay. 

  1. Analytical series is total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses.
  2. See Method used to calculate analytical series 'Contribution to wages growth by method of setting pay' on the Methodology page.
  3. See Analytical series index numbers, Appendix B index numbers, methods of setting pay on the Methodology page.

Sector wage growth

Quarterly wage dynamics, by sector, original (a)
  Jun Qtr 2024
(%)
Mar Qtr 2025
(%)
Jun Qtr 2025
(%)
All SectorPercentage of jobs with a wage change132114
Average hourly wage change4.13.93.8
Private SectorPercentage of jobs with a wage change111512
Average hourly wage change4.24.33.9
Public SectorPercentage of jobs with a wage change193920
Average hourly wage change3.83.33.5
  1. Average hourly wage change only includes jobs recording a wage movement in the current quarter.

Private sector

In original terms, private sector wages recorded a 0.6% quarterly wage growth, consistent with June quarter 2024. 

The private sector saw slightly more jobs recording a wage change (12%) compared to June quarter 2024 (11%).

The average hourly wage change for jobs in the private sector that recorded a change was 3.9%. This was lower than the same period last year (4.2%) and March quarter 2025 (4.3%).

  1. Average hourly wage change only includes jobs recording a wage movement in the current quarter.

Public sector

In original terms, public sector wages rose 0.8% for the June quarter 2025. This increase was slightly higher than the previous June quarter (+0.7%).

In June quarter 2025, 20% of public sector jobs recorded a wage movement, slightly higher than the 19% recorded in June quarter 2024. 

The average hourly wage change for jobs in the public sector that recorded a change was 3.5%. This was lower than the same time last year (+3.8%) but higher than in March quarter 2025 (+3.3%).

  1. Average hourly wage change only includes jobs recording a wage movement in the current quarter.

Industry wage growth

The main contributors to wage growth reflect both the size of the industry (overall number of employees and total wage expenditure) and the size of any wage changes that occurred.

In terms of contribution, Professional, scientific and technical services was the main industry contributor to quarterly growth (+0.9%). 

Original industry estimates:

  • The Mining, and Electricity, gas, water and waste services industries recorded the highest quarterly rise (+1.3%).
  • The Retail trade industry recorded the lowest quarterly rise in wages (+0.2%).
  • Electricity, gas, water and waste services recorded the highest through the year wage growth (+5.0%).
  • Finance and insurance services recorded the lowest through the year wage growth (+2.6%).
  1. Index series is original, total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses.

State and territory wage growth

The contribution of a state or territory to wage growth reflects both the size of the state or territory (overall number of employees and total wage expenditure) and the size of any wage changes that occurred.

New South Wales was the main contributor to quarterly wages growth (+0.5%). The main driver for the state was annual wage review increases for jobs in the private sector.

Original state and territory estimates:

  • Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest quarterly growth at 1.2%. Growth for the territory was driven by scheduled rises paid to Commonwealth employees in the public sector.
  • Northern Territory recorded the lowest quarterly growth at 0.3%.
  • Western Australia recorded the highest annual growth at 3.7%.
  • Tasmania recorded the lowest annual growth at 3.1%.
  1. Index series is original, total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses.

Survey impacts and changes

Seasonal adjustment and trend

Data downloads

I-Note

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data cubes - Distribution of expenditure on wages, wage price index, Australia

Create your own tables and visualisations with Data Explorer

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

Wage Price Index

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6345.0.

Using price indexes

Price indexes in contracts

Price indexes published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provide summary measures of the movements in various categories of prices over time. They are published primarily for use in Government economic analysis. Price indexes are also often used in contracts by businesses and government to adjust payments and/or charges to take account of changes in categories of prices (Indexation Clauses).

Use of Price Indexes in Contracts sets out a range of issues that should be taken into account by parties considering the inclusion of an Indexation Clause within a contract utilising an ABS published price index.

Frequently asked questions

The article Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Wage Price Index has answers to a number of common questions to do with price indexes and the Wage Price Index, in particular.

Methodology

Scope

Employing Australian organisations (private and public sector) and eligible employee jobs.

 

For specific employer and employee job excludes, see scope and coverage.

Geography

Data available for: 

 

  • Australia
  • Sector
  • State and territories

Source

Prices for a range of jobs are collected from a sample of private and public sector employers via the Wage Price Index Survey.

Collection method

An initial selection of approximately 3,300 Australian organisations (public and private) produces a subset of about 20,000 eligible jobs with data submitted electronically over successive quarters.

Concepts, sources and methods

Detailed information about the data sources and methods used to compile WPI are contained in the Wage Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods.

History of changes

  • Sample redesign 2009
  • Expenditure weights update Dec 2023
  • Wage setting analytical series updated June 2023
View full methodology
Back to top of the page