Monday 9 May 2022 07:23 AM Bad news for Coles and Woolworths shoppers trends now
Australian wages are now effectively falling as surging inflation eats up pay rises and threatens to spark an interest rate rise two years early.
Women are taking an even bigger economic hit than men as Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushes up petrol prices, adding to already-high rental and mortgage stress.
The McKell Institute think tank calculated that across Australia, women in 2021 suffered a 1.6 per cent fall in pay, when inflation was taken into account, compared to 1.2 per cent for men.
Women (pictured is a construction worker in Sydney) are taking an even bigger hit over rising inflation than men as soaring petrol prices, rents and mortgage repayments leave little room to save
Australia's average full-time salary of $90,917 would now barely pay off a median priced $728,034 home without someone being in mortgage stress (pictured is an auction at Paddington in Sydney)
Chief executive Michael Buckland used International Women's Day to highlight how weak wages growth was hurting female workers in particular.
'Real wages are contracting and there's no focused plan to turn things around,' he said.
'Across Australia both men and women are doing it tough with the value of their pay packets falling in real terms.
'But this data shows women are doing it that much tougher.'
In the year to November, average wages before bonuses and overtime rose by just 2.1 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.
By comparison, the headline inflation rate last year surged by 3.5 per cent, a level well above the Reserve Bank's 2 to 3 per cent target.
