Australian wages have grown at the fastest pace on record, after low paid workers and aged care staff were given one-off boosts. But even though pay packets have picked up, most Australians are still going backwards because of the high cost of living.
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00:00 Anger on the streets. These teachers in South Australia want a better deal.
00:07 Oh look, everything else goes up.
00:10 Pay is crucial and people say teachers are being greedy. We're not being greedy. We want
00:15 adjustments for the cost of living.
00:17 Things are changing.
00:20 Employers are still competing to get new employees and retain their employees as well. So that
00:24 is boosting wage growth.
00:27 Wages are rising. Pay packets lifted 1.3 per cent in three months to September and
00:32 4 per cent for the year. Private sector wages are growing faster than those in the public
00:37 sector but both are being dwarfed by the rocketing cost of living, with inflation still running
00:43 at 5.4 per cent over 12 months.
00:46 Real wages are still going backwards and they've been going backwards for, what, 18 months
00:51 longer now.
00:52 The nation's peak union body says legislative change is having an impact on pay packets.
00:57 I do see progress. Workers feeling more confident in terms of asking for pay increases and actually
01:03 being able to win them.
01:05 The result was boosted by two big one-off events. A substantial lift in the minimum
01:11 wage and a massive 15 per cent pay bump for about 250,000 aged care workers.
01:17 Almost half of private sector workers won more pay in the past three months, an average
01:22 boost of almost 6 per cent.
01:25 In a tight labour market, workers are flexing their muscle.
01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]