Business lobby attacks imaginary "wages blowout"

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday released the Q4 2024 Business Indicators, which showed that non-mining company profits have never been higher (excluding the pandemic spike).

Despite the stellar profits, Australian Industry Group (AIG) CEO, Innes Willox, attacked what he labelled a “wages blowout”, which is placing “mounting pressure on business balance sheets”:

“The soaring national wages bill is putting increasing pressure on business balance sheets, which augurs poorly for a return to private sector growth,” said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of national employer peak body the Australian Industry Group.

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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.

Business lobby attacks imaginary “wages blowout”