Australia’s second quarter wage growth subdued on pandemic hit

The second quarter had seen Australian wages expanding at the most gradual pace on record, highlighting the damage inflicted by the pandemic on household spending.  This followed after recent data showed weak consumer confidence and struggling business conditions.

The official wage price index (WPI) recorded a 0.2% increase in the three months ended June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday. The figure came lower than the already weak 0.3% prediction in a Reuters poll. This also placed below the 0.5% growth monitored in the first quarter.

Annual wage growth was seen as 1.8% lower than the levels used as the country’s standard. Moreover, both annual and quarterly wage growth were monitored at their lowest since the country began index monitoring in 1997.