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Minimum Wage/Award Wage Increased By 5.75% From July 1

AUSTRALIA DATA

The Australian Fair Work Commission has announced that the Australian minimum wage will be increased by 5.75%, effective from July 1. Whilst this is lower than local unions had wanted (who had been arguing for a 7% increase), it still affects around 25% of all Australian employees (per ABC reports), via the award system.

  • Note that the Australian Treasury assumed a 6.9% minimum wage rise in the budget with 4% for another 2mn award workers.
  • At the same time, from last weekend, the AFR reported that the RBA warned the government in a recent meeting not to allow large wage increases ahead of June’s announcement of the size of the minimum wage rise. Governor Lowe said that increases above 2%-3% plus any productivity growth would be inflationary (see this link for more details).
  • Note RBA forecasts have the Wage price index peaking at 4.00% in Q4 of this year.
  • So, whilst the headline was lower than the 7%, which had been discussed, it still may create concerns of a higher wages peak than the RBA is projecting and force further RBA action.
  • A number of sell-side economists have turned more hawkish in terms of RBA outlook, see here and here for more detail.

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