RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle delivered a speech titled “The Outlook for the Australian Economy” at the CFO Forum in Sydney today, where he talked about wages.
He noted that “the experience of other countries with labour markets closer to full capacity than Australia’s is that wages growth may remain lower than historical experience would suggest.”
Currently in Australia “2% seems to have become the focal point for wage outcomes, compared with 3–4% in the past.” Even so, “”there is a risk that it may take a lower unemployment rate than we currently expect to generate a sustained move higher than the 2% focal point evident in many wage outcomes today”.