Today
Wages blowout adds $800m to NSW deficit
NSW Labor wants to fight on fiscal restraint, but abandoning the wages cap and spiralling workers’ compensation costs are making its jobs harder.
This Month
Worker paid for three years after they quit in $295k payroll blunder
In a scathing report on public service accounting errors, the NSW Audit Office found that one agency kept paying 481 people after their employment ended.
More inflation pressure as public sector wages outpace private
Despite flat wages growth in September, the RBA say that Australia’s productivity slump is pushing up labour costs and adding to inflationary pressures.
Like Keating, Chalmers should use economic reality as impetus for reform
The warning delivered by then secretary to the Treasury John Stone in 1984 is an eerie experience. Forty years on, we face so many of the same challenges.
NSW dropping public sector pay cap adds budget pressure, warn experts
NSW has maintained its AA+ credit rating but above-inflation public sector wage increases are making fiscal restraint difficult
Public sector wages bill tops $250b as consultants get the chop
Commonwealth public servants collectively took home 9.5 per cent more in 2024-25, while state employees got an extra 7.3 per cent, adding to debt concerns
Why the RBA is on alert but not alarmed about its big inflation miss
The Reserve Bank won’t be cutting interest rates any time soon after one of its worst forecasting errors on inflation since the 1990s.
$841m public sector wage blowout to test APS spending limits
The public sector wage blowout is adding pressure to departmental budgets, prompting warnings that budget spending allowances may need to be adjusted.
October
Dense cities boost pay, but will we need homes on the fringe too?
Assistant Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh spruiks denser cities, but the Urban Development Institute fears infill focus is slowing progress on housing targets.
RBA says Australians will have to accept lower wages growth
Chief economist Sarah Hunter says lagging productivity means wages could only sustainably rise at 3.2 per cent a year on average across the economy.
Cash crunch threat as Armaguard workers move to strike
The supply of cash across the east coast could come under threat as workers for the monopoly cash distributor consider strike action over wage freezes.
September
‘Another blow’: Rising labour costs squeeze firms, curb rate cuts
Business owners like Josh Lefers have been forced to pass on higher staff costs to customers, fuelling inflation and putting the RBA on high alert.
Wages rise faster than business profits under Labor
Employees pocketed about $28 billion in extra pay at the expense of companies over the past year, due to a tight labour market and worker-friendly policies.
Productivity or bust: Living standards ‘won’t recover until 2037’
The treasurer says the recovery in real incomes proves the worst of cost-of-living pressures is in the past, but economists expect growth to return to a crawl.
August
Chalmers faces $40b budget hit from weaker productivity
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has overestimated the economy’s speed limit, as stagnant productivity threatens to punch a hole in tax revenue, economists say.
Wage growth holds steady as RBA warns of pay crunch
The central bank has warned that pay rises will shrink as flatlining productivity weighs on living standards.
July
Mass US job cuts could come to the ASX, especially these 20 firms
Bosses in America are already making a virtue of shrinking their workforces. Is that trend just weeks away from hitting Australia?
Warning: Centralised wage-fixing in Australia has returned
The Fair Work Commission’s ruling on BHP’s “same job, same pay” case is a reversal of the Keating model, which led to enterprise autonomy and collaboration.
June
NSW budget shows $3.4b deficit, offers housing guarantee
NSW opposition doubts Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s two-year path to surplus and labels its housing policy a “drop in the ocean”.
The surprise pay rise tucked away in minimum wage ruling
Employer groups have reacted with alarm to the Fair Work Commission’s proposal, which was buried inside the 63-page minimum wage decision.