Australia’s wage growth eased slightly in the June quarter, with the Wage Price Index up 0.8 per cent over the three months and 3.4 per cent over the year on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said: ‘Annual wage growth to the June quarter 2025 was unchanged from the 3.4 per cent rise seen in the March quarter 2025 but was down from the 4.1 per cent growth at the same time last year.’
The quarterly pace slowed from 0.9 per cent in the March quarter and remains well below the September quarter 2023 peak of 1.3 per cent. Distributional data show fewer larger pay rises than a year ago, with more changes clustered in the mid-range. Ms Marquardt said: ‘The share of wage changes greater than 4 per cent has declined since this time last year. The smaller proportion of jobs with larger wage increases has contributed to lower overall wage growth.’
In the June quarter, 7.3 per cent of recorded wage changes were above 6 per cent (down from 8.6 per cent in March), 17.8 per cent were between 4 and 6 per cent (18.2 per cent in March) and 38.8 per cent were between 3 and 4 per cent (37.6 per cent in March), on the ABS’s smoothed, annualised measure of jobs that received a wage change over the past year.
By sector, private-sector wages rose 0.8 per cent in the quarter, while public-sector wages rose 1.0 per cent. ‘This quarter’s lift in the public sector reflected backdated pay rises from recently approved state-based enterprise agreements coming into effect, coupled with regular scheduled pay increases.’ Ms Marquardt said.
On an annual basis, private-sector wages grew 3.4 per cent and public-sector wages 3.7 per cent, both lower than a year earlier. Ms Marquardt said: ‘Both the private and the public sectors had lower annual wage growth compared to the June quarter 2024. wages in the private sector grew 3.4 per cent over the previous 12 months, lower than the 4.1 per cent growth recorded in the year to June 2024. Annual public sector wage growth was at 3.7 per cent this quarter compared to 3.9 per cent at the same time last year.’
The WPI tracks changes in the price of wages and salaries over time, isolating pure price movements from the effects of workforce composition, employment changes and hours worked. The June quarter data capture wages for the last pay period ending on or before the third Friday in May.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
