RBA governor Philip Lowe is due to deliver a speech on unconventional monetary policies next week as signs grow the bank may cut official interest rates even lower.Credit:AAP
Businesses had told the bank they only expected wages to rise around the same rate as last year with"very few firms"expected to offer their staff a better deal in 2020.
"New enterprise bargaining agreements were still generally delivering lower wage outcomes than the agreements they were replacing,"they noted.
Wages and jobs data last week showed the economy in a relatively weak position through October. The RBA has already downgraded its wages growth forecasts for the coming two years.
That is playing into consumers'minds,with the ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly measure of consumer sentiment dipping again. Its measure of the economy over the next 12 months fell to a 2.5 year low.
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"Confirmation that wages are still subdued may also have made households apprehensive about the economic outlook,"ANZ senior economist David Plank said.
Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the RBA was still on track to take the official cash rate to 0.5 per cent at its February meeting.