RICHARD MARLES MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION, EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS AND SMALL BUSINESS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SCIENCE
MEMBER FOR CORIO
 
TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR WATSON
 
JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
 

AUSTRALIANS HAVE JUST SUFFERED THE BIGGEST REAL WAGE CUT IN 20 YEARS
 
 

With inflation running at 5.1 per cent, today’s data shows that real wages went backwards by 2.7 per cent in the last 12 months. 
 
Everything is going up except your wages.
 
In fact, the cost of living is going up twice as fast as your pay.
 
For a worker on the minimum wage of $40,000 a year, this cut to real wages has left them $1,080 a year worse off. 
 
For workers on the average wage of $91,000, this cut to real wages has left them $2,457 a year worse off.
 
Since Scott Morrison became Prime Minister four years ago, Australian workers’ real wages have not gone up at all.
 
With the Reserve Bank now expecting inflation to grow to 5.5 per cent by the middle of this year and remain above 4 per cent into the second half of next year, your wages will continue to go backwards under the Liberals.
 
These cost-of-living pressures have already resulted in the typical Australian family being out of pocket by at least $3,600 this year compared to last year, which will only get worse.
 
We know that low wages growth is a deliberate design feature of this government’s economic architecture. 
 
Mr Morrison has repeatedly backed lower real wages for workers through this campaign, even criticising Labor’s support for the lowest paid workers not to have their real wages cut. 
 
The Liberals just don’t get it and their promise to keep wages low is the only promise that they are delivering. 
 
Only Labor has a plan to get wages moving again.
 
WEDNESDAY, 18 MAY 2022