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Christopher Hoy, McKenzie Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Real wages have gone backwards. Even earning $100,000 isn’t what it used to be

Inflation the Australian Bureau of Statistics Inequality Australia

Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that over the year to December, wages grew by 3.4%. For households, however, the number that really matters is what happened to wages after inflation.

Over the same period, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.8%. This means real wages (wages after accounting for inflation) actually went backwards.

That’s just today’s story. The deeper story, which has now been playing out for several years, is the erosion of Australians’ sense of what a “good” wage is and how we think about wage inequality.

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