But with inflation running at 7.8 per cent,the gap between wages and prices now stands at 4.5 per cent – the largest gap since the bureau started compiling its wage price index in 1998.
The Reserve Bank,as recently as its quarterly outlook on the economy,noted the importance of avoiding a price-wage spiral driven by the price-setting actions of businesses and a sharp increase in pay packets.
The ABS figures showed the proportion of people in the private sector getting a wage increase decreased from 23 per cent to 21 per cent,while the size of those pay increases also moderated,down from 4.3 per cent to 4 per cent.
In the public sector,wage growth is now running at an annual rate of 2.5 per cent. Wages for Victoria’s public sector workers lifted 2.8 per cent over the year,in NSW they increased 2.5 per cent and in Western Australia they inched up 1.1 per cent.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the figures proved there was no wage-price spiral.
“There is no evidence of a wage-price spiral in our economy. Wages growth isn’t the problem when it comes to inflation,it’s part of the solution to cost of living pressures,” he said.