Opinion
Drop in real wages is no neoliberal conspiracy
Contrary to the zero-sum thinking that has come to dominate arguments about IR, the gradual decline in the share of labour in the national income of advanced economies is due to technology, not ideology.
Richard HoldenEconomics professorReal wages in Australia have been battered by the recent inflation outbreak, which is a big concern. But as many have pointed out – including yours truly – real wages for the average Australian worker also grew slowly during the 2010s, although at least they weren’t going backwards.
Setting aside the inflationary outbreak, the current government likes to blame the earlier slow wage growth on an intentional policy by the previous Coalition government. Unfortunately, the best evidence for this is one incredibly clumsy Sky News interview where Mathias Cormann used the phrase “deliberate design feature” when referring to wage growth.
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