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Bosses are struggling to fill blue-collar vacancies as wages rise to their highest level in a decade.
The wage price index in the year to September was up 3.1 percent – the fastest increase since the March quarter of 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed.
This ended a nine-year streak of wage levels falling below the long-term average of three percent, with retail, manufacturing and real estate workers receiving the largest pay increases.
Private sector workers fared even better, with wages rising at 3.4 percent, the fastest pace since 2012, compared to just 2.4 percent for public sector professionals.
Bosses struggle to fill blue-collar and white-collar jobs as wages rise to a 10-year high (pictured a construction worker in Sydney)
Retail workers had the largest annual wage increase of 4.2 percent, with many workers in this sector taking advantage of the 5.2 percent minimum wage increase that took effect for them on July 1.
Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk said the Fair Work Commission’s most generous wage increase for the lowest wages since 2006 was the main driver of private sector wage growth.
“The boost to private sector wage growth was the Fair Work Commission’s largest minimum wage/compensation increase in more than a decade,” he said.
“This resulted in an increase in both the magnitude of average wage growth and the share of private sector jobs that recorded a wage change in September.”
However, most Australians are suffering from a fall in real wages, with wages rising at half the 32-year high inflation rate of 7.3 percent.
This means that those who want a pay rise that will make them more likely to keep up with inflation will have to switch careers to one where skills are scarce.
An Australian Industry Group survey of 350 business leaders found that employers struggled to fill both manual and professional jobs.
Automated machinists with numerical control are particularly in demand, along with welders, mold setters and boiler makers.
No wonder the ABS data showed 3.6 percent growth in manufacturing wages.
Retail workers had the largest wage increase at 4.2 percent, with many workers in this sector taking advantage of the 5.2 percent minimum wage increase that came into effect for them on July 1 (pictured is Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall in October 2021)
The wholesale sector, which shipped goods to other companies, saw an even bigger wage increase of 3.8 percent.
The AI Group’s research showed that there is a need for drivers and drivers.
The 3.4 percent wage increase in the construction sector coincided with the AI Group survey showing a need for labor.
Administrative jobs also saw big increases, with the rental, renting and real estate services sector seeing a larger increase of 4 percent, while financial services increased by 3.7 percent.
The AI Group’s data also showed strong demand for accountants, marketers and human resources.
Innes Willox, CEO of the Australian Industry Group, said the fastest wage growth in a decade negates the need for Labor’s industrial relations law to introduce multi-employer bargaining.
“The increase in the wage price index released today by the ABS shows that the pace of wage growth is picking up strongly,” he said.
“This is happening without the help of the heavy-handed provisions in the government’s IR bill currently before parliament.”
But Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Secretary of Labor Tony Burke released a joint statement arguing that high inflation meant new laws were needed to raise wages.
An Australian Industry Group survey of 350 business leaders found that employers struggled to fill both manual and professional jobs. Machinists with computerized numerical control are particularly in demand, along with welders (pictured), machine die setters and cook makers are in high demand
The wage price index in the year to September rose 3.1 percent – the fastest increase since the March quarter of 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed
“While it is gratifying to see wages finally starting to rise again, we know that inflation is taking a big bite out of the wages of ordinary Australians,” they said.
“That’s why our budget was focused on tackling the inflation challenge and kicking up wages.”
Labour’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill seeks to revive an industrial relations system from four decades ago, before Bob Hawke’s Labor government negotiated agreements with unions in 1983 to limit wage growth.
The Albanian government is also seeking to overturn former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating’s 1993 bargaining bills.
“The next step to get wages moving again is to fix Australia’s broken bargaining system,” Labor cabinet ministers said.
However, most Australians are suffering from a reduction in real wages, with wages rising at half the 32-year high inflation rate of 7.3 percent
“With the Safe Jobs, Better Pay Act, our government aims to promote job security, help close the gender pay gap and modernize workplace negotiations.”
Commonwealth Bank Australian economy head Gareth Aird said wage growth was still quite subdued, with more people now applying for every available job as foreign workers returned.
“Australia is not facing a wage price spiral as has been observed in other jurisdictions, particularly the US – mainly due to differences in labor supply during the pandemic period and some institutional features of Australia’s wage-setting process,” he said.
In a surprising twist, the highest-paying mining sector saw a below-average annual wage increase of 2.7 percent, while jobs in education saw a weak 2.2 percent increase.