The key election battleground states of Western Australia and Queensland are the states experiencing the sharpest decline in real wages, according to new analysis released today by the McKell Institute.
The new report, ‘Stuck in Neutral: The Policy Architecture Driving Slow Wage Growth in Australia,’ finds that in 2021 Australia experienced a fall in real wages of 1.2 per cent.
However there is a high degree of variability between the states, with wages falling by 1.9 per cent in Queensland and a massive 3.7 per cent in WA.
The analysis also finds the average worker would be earning an additional $307 per week if the rate of wage growth in the period 2007-2013 had been sustained through 2014-2021.
The McKell Institute’s executive director Michael Buckland said the situation was likely to get worse if current policy settings persisted.
“Slow wage growth is an economic problem created in part by deliberate government policy. As the Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, said in 2091 low wage growth is a deliberate design feature of the Coalition’s economic architecture,” Mr Buckland said.
“Our report finds there have been a range of policies that have contributed to low wage growth including a reduction in penalty rates, a surge in temporary work visas, and inaction on wage theft. Opposition to increases in minimum wages, public sector wage freezes, and allowing the exemption of the unregulated gig economy have also been identified as contributors.
“Remedying sustained low wage growth requires substantial change in Federal Government policy.
“The situation is now particularly acute in WA and Queensland, which have been, interestingly, identified as key battleground states in this current federal election.”