The average Australian was more than $800 worse off last year than they were in 2020, as the soaring cost of living outstrips wage growth, according to the Australian Council of Trade Union.
President Michele O’Neil will tell the Australia Institute on Tuesday that Australian workers are suffering from the steepest cut in real terms in more than 20 years.
In her speech, two weeks before Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hands down his budget, Ms O’Neil will say that a worker with an average income of $68,000 last year had their wages fall by at least $832 in real terms due to accelerating inflation.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, consumer prices rose 3.5 per cent in 2021 while wages grew just 2.3 per cent.
“Wages are too low for Australian households to achieve a decent, stable standard of living,” Ms O’Neil will say.
“They are too low to support the consumer spending we need to continue recovering from the recession. And now they are way too low to keep up with accelerating inflation.”
Shockingly, Ms O’Neil will say workers who were on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic are among those worst off.
“Full-time workers in health care and social support have had their pay effectively cut by $967 last year,” she will say.
“For those in transport, postal and warehousing, risking their health and safety to keep the nation running – they lost an eye-watering $1497.
“Education and training workers lost $1362. Admin and support services went backwards by $1185.”
While the soaring cost of petrol is “grabbing the headlines”, Ms O’Neil will say family budgets are being hit from all sides.
“Childcare costs went up 6.5 per cent last year – rising nearly three times as fast as wages, and it’s risen by even more than that in seven out of the past 10 years.
“Rents are even worse – surging 9 per cent, with experts predicting they’ll go even higher this year. The cost of groceries is also outpacing sluggish wage growth.
“We’ve had nearly a decade of record low wage growth and nearly a decade of this Coalition government. That’s no coincidence.”
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said he didn’t “necessarily accept” the ACTU figures.
“In terms of the income tax cuts we have delivered as a government, if you’re somebody earning $90,000, that equates to about $50 a week, that’s $2500 a year,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.
When met with criticism that any potential tax-related savings were being eaten up by cost of living increases, Senator Birmingham said the government was “obviously (not) blind to the fact that there are inflationary pressures right around the world”.
“The pressure on fuel prices is something that I think most people recognise is not being driven by Australian government policies; it’s being driven by world events and what’s been happening, particularly in relation to Russia and Ukraine,” Senator Birmingham said.
“It’s not something we can wave a magic wand over, but when we frame this budget, we will be looking as carefully as we can at how we can help Australians as we’ve done before – whether it’s through tax cuts or other measures.”
