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Aggregate Wage Indicators, Enterprise Bargaining and Recent Wage Increases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

John Burgess
John Burgess*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics University of Newcastle
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Abstract

To what extent have wages recently increased in Australia? Have these increases been excessive? There are a myriad of wage data series produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These series reflect different questions and different perspectives about wages. In the context of the previously centralised wage determination process the dissection and analysis of aggregate wage series was an important exercise for industry and academic economists. However, the analysis and interpretation of aggregate wage data has become more difficult in the light of a number of developments: (a) falling award coverage, (b) the development and uneven spread of enterprise bargaining, (c) the industrial and demographic restructuring of the workforce, (d) the growth in non-wage benefits, (e) the growth in non-standard employment What are the available options for measuring aggregate wages growth in the light of these above developments? To what extent has recent wage growth been excessive?

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , December 1995 , pp. 216 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1995

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Footnotes

*

This paper was presented at the 1995 Australian Social Research Conference, La Trobe University.

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