Australia: Wage growth steadies – ANZ

Catherine Birch, senior economist at ANZ, notes that Australia’s annual wage growth steadied at 2.3% in Q1 2019 and the quarterly result of 0.5% was marginally lower than expected but wasn’t far off 0.6% at two decimal places.

Key Quotes

“Annual growth in wages including bonuses slowed from 2.7% to 2.6%.”

“The wage price index (WPI) rose by 0.5% q/q and 2.3% y/y in Q1. The quarterly result was slightly below market and our expectations; however, for the second quarter in a row, it was very close to being 0.6% (at 0.54%).”

“Public sector wage growth slowed again to 0.4% q/q, the weakest result since 2000, dropping annual growth to 2.4%. Private sector wages were steady at 0.5% q/q, upping annual growth to 2.4%, the strongest result in four years.”

“Including bonuses, public sector wages slowed to 2.4% y/y (from 2.5%) and private sector wages slowed to 2.7% y/y (from 2.8%).”