Advertised salaries rise by 4.8 per cent in past year, driven by Aged Care boost: Seek

Wages are on the verge of rising at a faster pace than inflation as the largest increase to the minimum rates on record by the Fair Work Commission flows through parts of the economy.

Wages are on the verge of rising faster than inflation as the Fair Work Commission’s increase to minimum rates – the largest on record – flows through the ­economy.

Seek’s advertised salary index shows that wages are up 4.8 per cent in the 12 months to August and 0.5 per cent from July. The increase is just below the current rate of inflation, which stood at 4.9 per cent in July, according to the Australian Bureau of ­Statistics.

The growth in wages varies ­between sectors. Community services and development experienced a surge of 8 per cent in the year to August, driven by the Fair Work decision to lift minimum rates from July 1.

Wages in the aged care and disability support sub-industry rose 8.9 per cent in the year to August.

Growth was largely confined to the aged and disability support sub-industry, which rose 8.9 per cent in the year to August, compared to a steady growth in employment services and community development fields.

“We’re nearly at a point where advertised salary growth is outpacing the cost of living,” Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill said. “This increase is not common across all industries – most are still seeing moderate growth after the highs of 2022.”

Annual growth in advertised salaries is higher than before the pandemic when growth hovered at just under 3 per cent.

Most large industries are seeing a slowing of advertised salaries, with trades and services recording growth of 5.5 per cent in the past year, compared to 6.8 per cent in April.

Hospitality and tourism saw a continued moderation in advertised salaries, to be up just 2.6 per cent in the year to August.

Seek observed that despite Fair Work lifting award rates by 5.75 per cent in July, there was a fall in the number of businesses looking to hire workers since then.

Mr Cowgill said this month’s acceleration in advertised salaries was “unlikely to continue in the future months” given the pick-up was not occurring in most sectors.

Hospitality and tourism saw a continued moderation in advertised salaries, to be up just 2.6 per cent in the year to August. Picture: AAP

Meanwhile the federal government is about to reveal new policies in its employment white paper, due to be released on Monday.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it would put “workers and employers front and centre” and would include a new national skills passport.

“This is a really consultative and collaborative effort,” Dr Chalmers told Sky News.

This week will also see the release of monthly inflation data for August.

It is expected to show a slight increase from 4.9 per cent to 5.2 per cent, driven by surging oil prices, according to the market ­consensus.

The Reserve Bank has previously warned that Australia could see a 1970s-style price spiral, which risks entrenching unsustainably high pay demands and making it harder to bring inflation under control.

Former RBA governor Philip Lowe said in June at the Morgan Stanley Summit that Australia would get into “trouble if all workers feel the need to be compensated for high inflation”.

“We’re in a difficult position when society understandably wants to protect the lowest-paid workers, but we’ve got to make sure that the higher inflation doesn’t translate into higher wage outcomes for everybody.” Dr Lowe said.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that unemployment in August remained steady at 3.7 per cent. Full-time employment increase by 2800, but underemployment rose to 6.6 per cent, seasonally adjusted.