Advertised salaries are outpacing inflation as government considers cost of living relief

Advertised salaries for prospective employees have grown above inflation, despite a sluggish end to the year and cost of living pressures.

Data from employment website Seek revealed the growth of advertised salaries on its platform rose by 4.5% in the year to December 2023, outpacing inflation which stands at 4.3%.

While the growth was large in the past 12 months, advertised salaries increased by 0.9% in the last quarter of 2023.

It was an even smaller uptick for monthly changes, with just a 0.3% increase between November and December.

Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill said the growth in wages was reassuring.

“Finally, advertised salaries are rising faster than prices once again. After a long period of declining real wages, the Seek advertised salary index is now rising in real terms,” he said.

“Growth held steady at 0.3% each month in the final quarter of 2023. Although this is solid growth, it’s a clear slowdown from the previous quarter, when Fair Work Commission decisions delivered a bump to wages growth.”

The commission increased the national minimum wage to $23.23 an hour in July, with award minimum wages rising by 5.75%.

It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese summoned Labor colleagues back to Canberra for a caucus meeting on Wednesday on cost of living relief measures.

While inflation has peaked, forecasts have shown it will still take more than a year for it to come back to the Reserve Bank’s target band of between two and three percent.

Albanese said on Monday the government would look at advice on how to ease cost of living pressure without adding to persistent inflation.

“If we can find ways to put extra dollars in people’s pockets, particularly those lower-middle income earners who are doing it tough, then we’re prepared to do so,” he said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Greens have increased calls for the government to scrap planned stage three tax cuts, warning the measure would increase cost of living pressures.

Costings received by the party from the Parliamentary Budget Office showed the tax cuts would cost $300 million more in the next year, and $10 billion extra than forecast in the next decade.

In a letter sent to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, acting Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi said those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 would be contributing the most to government revenue, once the tax cuts and bracket creep are taken into account.

“The stage three tax cuts do not help those most struggling with the increased cost of living,” Senator Faruqi said in the letter.

“It will lead to over $70 billion of additional debt with nothing productive to show for it.”

The tax cuts are due to come into effect from July 1.

This article was first published by AAP.