A coffee a year: How much Australian incomes have grown since 2008   

The Age
September 19 2017

Australian household incomes have grown by less than the price of a coffee a year since 2008 and the Reserve Bank has warned workers to expect stubbornly low wage growth "for some time" yet.   

The paltry $3 per year bump in real terms has frustrated consumers, with any minuscule gains likely to be wiped out by surging power prices in the next 12 months as retailers book in increases of up to $300 in NSW and Victoria.

According to the minutes of September's Reserve Bank board meeting released on Tuesday, only teachers and healthcare workers have seen any meaningful jumps in their pay packet, with mining and retail workers hardest hit.

Across the economy, incomes in the private sector are struggling to keep up with the rate of inflation making groceries more expensive for consumers.   

The failure of wages to match the pick-up in employment across the country has left Australian workers hopelessly behind the levels seen between 2004-2008 when average household incomes grew by more than $50 a year.

The four year spurt in the lead up to the Global Financial Crisis is equal to ten times the $27 pay rise Australians have received since then, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

At the same time, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have risen by 100 per cent to reach medians of up to $1 million.   

The Reserve Bank's board members said wage growth would only gradually return after the drag on investment from the end of the mining boom dissipated. They cited it as a key reason for the board's decision to leave rates on hold at the record low of 1.5 per cent for the 13th month in a row, despite an otherwise positive assessment of the economy.

​The comments echo the sentiments of Treasurer Scott Morrison who has been pushing a "better days ahead" mantra on the back of record jobs growth for the past year.

"A gradual increase in growth in wages and inflation was expected as the spare capacity in the labour market was reduced and the economy continued to strengthen," the bank said.

On house prices, the board noted that while conditions in housing markets continued to vary considerably, "there had been clearer signs of an easing in conditions in the Sydney market but less so in Melbourne, where prices had continued to grow strongly."

Separate figures released by the bureau on Tuesday showed the annual growth rate of house prices held steady at 10.2 per cent, while the 3.0 per cent rise in prices in Melbourne over the three months to July beat the 2.3 per cent gain in Sydney.

"Other forward-looking indicators suggest that by this time next year house prices won't be rising at all," said Capital Economics chief economist Paul Dales.

Mr Dales said the loss of momentum "was particularly marked in Sydney," where the figures showed a 0.7 per cent price growth after they were seasonally adjusted.

"The easing in Melbourne was more modest, with the seasonally adjusted quarterly rate slowing from 3.8 per cent to 2.8," he said.

Helping to slow house prices, the Reserve Bank noted the crackdown on lending by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority had reduced the ratio of risky loans going to investors.

"Borrowing for housing had continued to outpace growth in incomes, although the composition had shifted towards owner-occupiers, with higher interest rates for investors in housing reflecting the ongoing effects of APRA's recent measures to strengthen lending standards in this area," the bank said.

Internationally, the bank's board members including Governor Philip Lowe and Treasury Secretary John Fraser noted developments in North Korea for the first time this year.

While military tensions on the Korean peninsula have been the focus of the UN security council, the US and Australian governments over the past six months, financial markets had taken little notice and offered a "muted response," the board noted.

"Overall conditions in financial markets had remained very accommodative and volatility had remained low over the preceding month," the board said.

The dollar pushed up to US79.94¢ from US79.57¢ on Tuesday after the release of the minutes.

More good old GetUp! anti Australian propaganda from the ultra Lefty BlackDay.

Usual wonky Lefty "argument" as totally ignores the cost of living.

And from the very Lefty AGE.

BlackDay's futile efforts are like advertising stuff put into your letterbox.

Jobsun groth

Vote coalition, get what you deserve - less than the price of coffee.

aquascoot wrote on Sep 20^th, 2017 at 8:39am:


You can be as valuable as you like - you can still be cut down by a piss-poor idiot in management or whatever who imagines he's the top doer when the opposite is the truth.  It's called management by ego and has grown exponentially in this nation for years now - and look at the results.

No matter how 'valuable' those couple of million unemployed and under-employed make themselves - the vacancies are not there and they will be ignored and treated like garbage before they get a sweet ride.

That, son, is the real world out there.

Nobody ever sacked a .38......