‘At the mercy of employers’: retail workers’ wages languish as industry profits soar

Australian retail workers’ wages have failed to keep up with the growth in the sectors’ profits. Photograph: Roderico Yool Díaz/The Guardian

Retail worker salaries are failing to keep pace with the rising cost of everything and lag increases secured by those in other sectors, despite a period of elevated company profits.

Gross operating profits in the retail sector have increased by more than six times since 2001, while retail wages have risen by less than half as much, according to ABS data.