Labour costs

Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 16:41
During the recent inflationary episode, the RBA relentlessly pursued the argument that they had to keep hiking interest rates, and then, had to keep them at elevated levels, well beyond any reasonable assessment of the situation, because wage pressures were set to explode. They claimed their business liaison panel was telling them that wages were…
Created
Wed, 12/03/2025 - 15:38
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest data today (March 12, 2025) on – Industrial Disputes, Australia – which covers the December-quarter 2024. The data shows that there was a slight decline in the number of industrial disputes over the last 12 months, although the number of working days lost rose significantly (by…
Created
Wed, 10/07/2024 - 17:33
It’s Wednesday, which means a few (sometimes unrelated) items are discussed or analysed. Today, we see that real wages in 16 of the 35 OECD countries are still below the pre-pandemic levels, which tells us among other things that the inflationary pressures were not wage induced. Further, a speech yesterday by the Federal Reserve boss…
Created
Thu, 06/06/2024 - 15:45
On June 4, 2024, Australia’s minimum wage setting authority – the Fair Work Commission (FWC) issued their decision in the – Annual Wage Review 2023-24 – which provides for wage increases for the lowest-paid workers – around 0.7 per cent of employees (around 79.2 thousand) in Australia. In turn, around 20.7 per cent of all…
Created
Wed, 21/02/2024 - 15:57
Today (February 21, 2023), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Wage Price Index, Australia – for the December-quarter 2023, which shows that the aggregate wage index rose by 4.2 per cent over the 12 months (up 0.2 points). In relation to the December-quarter CPI change (4.1 per cent), this result suggests that…