Wage slump fares poorly on national scale

Tasmanians have been hardest hit by wage cuts since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, according to new national data.

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TASMANIANS have been hardest hit by wage cuts since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, according to new national data.

Australian Bureau of Statistics Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia overview found wages decreased by 4.9 per cent between March 14 and October 3 this year, followed closely by 4.8 per cent in NSW and 4.2 per cent in the lockdown-plagued Victoria.

South Australia was the only state or territory to hold firm with a zero per cent change.

But all of Australia’s states and territories recorded a slump in payroll jobs during the same period, with Tasmania’s 4.5 per cent reduction beaten only by Victoria’s whopping 7.7 per cent drop.

Labor Senator Carol Brown said the country’s jobs crisis had become a wages crisis.

“This data clearly demonstrates that in the current environment having a job can’t guarantee you or your family the income you need to survive,” she said.

“This is the first recession in three decades and people are hurting.”

The senator said the Federal government needed a comprehensive plan for jobs to curb the effects of COVID-19 sooner rather than later.