Australia's seasonally adjusted wage price index rose by 2.3 percent year-on-year in the three months to March 2019, the same pace as in the previous period and matching market expectations. Both wages in the public sector and in the private went up by 2.4 percent. In original terms, wage rises ranged from 1.8 percent for construction and information media & telecommunication services to 3.0 percent for health care & social assistance. On a quarterly basis, wages went up 0.5 percent, unchanged from the prior period and slightly below market consensus of a 0.6 percent gain. Wage Growth in Australia averaged 3.22 percent from 1998 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 4.30 percent in the second quarter of 2008 and a record low of 1.90 percent in the third quarter of 2016.
Wage Growth in Australia is expected to be 2.35 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Wage Growth in Australia to stand at 3.20 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Australia Annual Change in Hourly Rates of Pay is projected to trend around 3.30 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.