Australian wages can’t buy what they used to

Friday 28 February 2025

Earlier this month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the Q4 2024 wage price index, which recorded growth of 0.7% for the quarter and 3.2% year over year.

The 0.7% quarterly increase was the equal lowest growth since Q1 2022, while the annual increase of 3.2% was the equal lowest since Q3 2022.

The following chart plots real wage growth, deflated by headline CPI and underlying (trimmed mean) inflation.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.