It’s time for the RBA to admit its fears of a wage-price spiral were misguided – and cut interest rates
The latest wage growth figures should make the Reserve Bank cut rates in December as their absurd worries about a wage-price spiral have been completely blown to bits.
Six years ago, Gareth Hutchens and I wrote a special report titled “Whatever happened to wage rises in Australia?” It’s kind of annoying how well it holds up.
Yesterday the latest wage price index figures revealed that in the past year private sector wages rose 3.5%, down from 4.1% in the June quarter. That is the biggest one quarter fall since the GFC in 2009.
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So much for a wages breakout (sigh). So much for the concerns of all those conservative commentators back in 2022 that Anthony Albanese supporting a minimum wage rise of 5.1% would send us down the path of hyperinflation.
It is quite infuriating now, as we look back with total hindsight, that the Reserve Bank’s concerns about a possible wage-price spiral were total and utter crap.
Of course, the infuriating thing is that this was known at the time.
The RBA boffins will note that they never actually said there was a wage-price spiral, but merely that there were risks.
But let’s not be so bashful.
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