"While today's wage price index release from the ABS points to continued wage moderation and is positive for the inflation and employment outlook, it appears likely to understate the ongoing build-up of wage pressures," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"As the ABS notes, an unusually high proportion (38 per cent) of wage increases negotiated in the June quarter saw increases of greater than 4 per cent.
"This is more than double the proportion in the same quarter in 2022 (17 per cent).
"This, together with the large increase in wage rates now in the pipeline for the September quarter due to the high increase in award rates granted by the Fair Work Commission, will sound a note of caution when the Reserve Bank next considers the underlying price and wage pressures in the economy," Mr Willox said.
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