Wages for full-time SA workers fall to lowest in Australia

If your pay packet has been looking a bit skinny, here’s why. SA has slipped to the bottom of the table for full-time wages in Australia. EXPLORE THE DATA

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South Australia now has the lowest paid full-time workers in the nation, with employees here slipping behind Tasmanians in the pay stakes.

SA full-time workers have the lowest median weekly pay and the lowest median hourly rate, an annual snapshot from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals.

Overall, SA workers had a 1 per cent wage increase in the year to $1010/week compared to a national average 2.3 per cent rise to $1100.

Looking at all employees – male, female, full-time and part-time – SA employees remain $10/week ahead of Tasmanians.

Business SA executive director Anthony Penney said many factors influenced wage growth.

“With supply and demand of workers, when SA’s trend unemployment rate is in the 6 per cent levels and the participation rate is increasing that’s not going to contribute to wages growth,” he said.

Nationally, productivity improvements were lagging long-term averages, dampening capacity for wage increases, he said.

Compared to WA, with its mining industry, and the ACT, with plentiful white-collar jobs, SA’s industry landscape lacked dominant high-paying sectors.

SA also was short of big company headquarters, limiting options for middle and senior level workers to job hop for higher pay.

“We want an economy which is thriving,” Mr Penney said.

“We want to be close to full employment, ideally we would love to see unemployment in the 4 per cent levels like NSW and Victoria.

“There needs to be a breadth of industry — with defence coming on board and, to a degree, space and cyber, these will fuel job creation.

“That will put further demand on the supply of human resources and therefore we should see a catch-up in wages growth.”

The ABS report published this week found in SA male full-time median weekly earnings were $1342, while full-time females earned $1150.

This produced a median of $1251/week — $17 below Tasmania and $124 below the national average.

SA’s 1 per cent rise was faster than Victoria – where workers went backwards – and Queensland but slower than NSW, WA and Tasmania.

The wage gap between men and women full-time workers in SA grew from $109 to $192 although it stayed the same at $300 when looking at both full and part time workers.

SA Unions secretary Angas Story called on the State Government to bring forward major infrastructure work and set an example of improved wage outcomes in the public sector to drive economic activity.

Business SA executive director Anthony Penney

“SA is sleepwalking to the edge of a precipice which will see us with the worst unemployment levels and the lowest wages in Australia,” he said

“The State Government must get serious about creating decent jobs and encouraging wage growth in this State.

“People who don’t have jobs or feel their employment is precarious do not spend and this is stalling the SA economy and destroying business confidence.”

ABS head of Labour Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said national trends from the annual August snapshot included increases in employees with flexible hours and working from home.

There was a fall in workers regularly doing overtime or being on call.