The average Australian salary rose just 2.1% in the last year—the lowest rate in recorded history, in a further sign the nation’s economy continues to slow.
In fresh data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, wage growth was just up by 0.4% in the March quarter of 2016, rounding out the lowest annual wage increase rate since records started in September 1998, Xinhua reported.
The private sector was hit hardest, with annual wage increases coming in at just 1.9% over the year ending March, while public servants and government workers were given an average of a 2.55 pay increase.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, however, it isn’t federal public servants, such as politicians, who are experiencing the biggest wage increases in a slowing economy, wages in Canberra grew at the slowest rate in the nation at just 1.8%.
The news means the Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to yet again cut interest rates to the lowest on record later this year, as slowing wage growth is a tell-tale sign of weak inflation in the Australian economy.
Economic expert David Bassanese from BetaShares told the ABC that another rate cut was likely, in an attempt to encourage growth and new employment in order to promote stronger wage growth.
“For the first time in a long time, the RBA is targeting wages,” Bassanese said on Wednesday.
“What’s more, probably for the first time in its history, the RBA is actually targeting a higher rather than a lower level wage inflation.”
