Rise seen in wage stats
New stats suggest wage growth in enterprise agreements is up to 3.2 per cent.
Figures from the Fair Work Commission suggest that in the first half of July, 153 agreements were lodged for approval covering 19,132 workers, and contained an average annual pay rise of 3.2 per cent.
However, the number of employees covered by enterprise agreements has dropped to just 10 per cent of the private sector workforce.
A clear majority of agreements filed from July 2 to July 15 were non-union deals, but they contained average pay rises of 3.2 per cent a year across 18,798 workers.
Just 20 union agreements were lodged in the same time period, providing for average annual pay rises of 4.8 per cent across 334 employees.
Some analysts say the demise of the enterprise bargaining system is behind the Australian economy’s decade of stagnant wage growth.
Even though the average pay rise in the July agreements was below the June consumer price index of 6.1 per cent, it still marked an increase from the stalled average of 2.6 per cent in new agreements approved in the March and December quarters.
Construction drove some of the highest pay rises of 4.3 per cent averaged across 33 agreements covering 1091 workers.
A children’s services deal topped the industry rankings with a 5.6 per cent pay rise.
Local government is the largest industry covered by agreements, which extend to 3,571 workers, but it also has the lowest pay growth at just 2.4 per cent.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this week that “enterprise bargaining is not working”, and called for wages to rise based on co-operation.
“Enterprise bargaining is about employers and unions coming to common interest to benefit both and anything that can do that, I see as very positive,” he said.