Today’s wage price data, released by the ABS, revealed that annual wages growth fell to the slowest pace on record (1997) in the December quarter, clocking it at just 1.87% (trend) over the year:
![ScreenHunter_17608 Feb. 22 12.29](https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ScreenHunter_17608-Feb.-22-12.29.jpg)
At least the news was better when adjusted for underlying (core) inflation, with annual wages growth rising 0.3% in the year to December in trend terms, courtesy of historically weak inflation:
![ScreenHunter_17609 Feb. 22 12.31](https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ScreenHunter_17609-Feb.-22-12.31.jpg)
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![ScreenHunter_17610 Feb. 22 12.31](https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ScreenHunter_17610-Feb.-22-12.31.jpg)