Minimum Wage rise: 3.0% or 5.5%?
Annual CPI inflation increased to 5.1 per cent in the March quarter, mainly due to higher dwelling construction costs and automotive fuel prices. abs.gov.au
Following this inflation rise, there are some who want to see an equal rise in wages, to compensate for these temporary price rises.
The automotive fuel prices has already been compensated, to some degree, by the 22.1 cents per litre reduction, although this will only be reflected in the next inflation rate figure in June 2022.
Alison Pennington, senior economist at the Centre for Future Work, Australia Institute, says that she thinks that bosses can afford a pay rise, as they have a lot of fat that can feed a wage increase.
Andrew McKellar, chief executive at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says: “Business is doing it tough. They’ve had two years of pandemic where they’ve struggled to keep people in their jobs”.
The ACCI is proposing a lift in minimum and award wages of up to 3 per cent.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is asking for a 5.5% increase for the 2.3 million workers covered by minimum and award wages.
The Fair Work Commission will decide any changes to the annual minimum wages in June 2022. https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/annual-wage-reviews
Should Australian businesses be allowed time to recover from losses during the Covid Pandemic, or should they give higher pay rises, reduce staff and risk closing down, to give their employees the extra pay?
Australian Inflation Rate 2020/21.
5.1% annualised for Mar 2022.
3.5% annualised for Dec 2021.
3.0% annualised for Sep 2021.
3.8% annualised for Jun 2021.
1.1% annualised for Mar 2021.
0.9% annualised for Dec 2020.
0.7% annualised for Sep 2020.
-0.3% annualised for Jun 2020.
2.2% annualised for Mar 2020.
1.8% annualised for Dec 2019.
1.7% annualised for Sep 2019.
1.6% annualised for Jun 2019.
1.3% annualised for Mar 2019.
What has happened in previous years?
March 2021. Inflation Rate 1.1%, wage rise = 2.5%
March 2020. Inflation Rate 2.2%, wage rise = 1.7%
March 2019. Inflation Rate 1.3%, wage rise = 3.0%