Why aren't YOU getting a pay rise? The jobs where wages are surging as other workers struggle
- Retail workers had weakest pay increases of just 0.2 per cent in March quarter
- Science, technical and professionals had the biggest wage rises of 3.4 per cent
- AMP Capital expert Dr Shane Oliver said wages are still relatively weak for many
- Official business indicators data showed profitability patchy across economy
Retail workers are enjoying the weakest wage increases while scientists and professionals are enjoying by far the biggest pay rises.
Australian Bureau of Statistics business indicators data released on Monday showed a huge discrepancy between white collar professionals and low-skilled workers.
In the March quarter, wages for retail workers rose by just 0.2 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, professional, scientific and technical workers saw their pay levels surge by 3.4 per cent.
This was more than double the mining sector's 1.5 per cent.
Retail and hospitality workers are enjoying the weakest wage increases while scientists and professionals are enjoying by far the biggest pay rises (pictured is a stock image of a barista)
Hospitality and construction wages were even weaker, growing by 0.8 per cent.
AMP Capital chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said wages were still relatively weak.
'One theory is because wages growth has been so slow, it's enabled or encouraged companies to employ more people,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
Recruitment firm Adecco's chief executive in Australia Rafael Moyano pointed out there was a big discrepancy between wage rises for white collar professionals and lower-paid hospitality and retail workers.
He said these were the people who would benefit most from the Fair Work Commission's decision last week to increase the national minimum wage by $21.60 a week to $740.80.
The new minimum wage of $38,522 a year is still less than half Australia's average full-time salary of $83,500.
'With workers in these industries relying more heavily on the minimum wage, the three per cent increase announced by the Fair Work Commission will bring an important boost on 1 July,' Mr Moyano said.
Overall wages across Australia appear to be rising at triple the rate of inflation but there's a reason why most workers aren't feeling like it's a pay rise.
Pay levels in the accommodation, food services and construction sectors increased by just 0.8 per cent (pictured is a carpenter in Canberra putting up a timber frame)
Official business indicators data released on Monday showed wage costs rising by 4.4 per cent in the year to the end of March.
While that level is more than triple the inflation rate of 1.3 per cent, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figure is not so rosy for most workers.
The economy-wide 4.4 per cent increase in wage costs included a 2.3 per cent increase in the wage price index, with the rest coming from an increase in employment.
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Overall company profits rose by 1.7 per cent in the March quarter for an annual increase of 7.8 per cent, the business indicators data also showed.
In the March quarter alone, mining profits rose by 5.2 per cent during a period which saw iron ore prices surge by 24 per cent to $US85.70 a metric tonne.
Dr Oliver, however, said there was little evidence of the mining sector ramping up employment, with the public sector more likely to be behind the increase in overall employment growth.
Mining salaries grew by 1.5 per cent during the March quarter (pictured is an Australian mine worker)
'A lot of the employment growth we have seen is in public-related areas, health and so on, not so much in the private sector,' he said.
Some sectors went backwards during the March quarter with gross operating profits in the accommodation and food sector falling by 3.8 per cent as construction declined by 7.5 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected to cut interest rates on Tuesday, which would take the cash rate to a new record-low of 1.25 per cent.
Dr Oliver is also forecasting another rate cut in August followed by two more rate cuts in the first half of 2020, possibly in February and May, which would take the cash rate to 0.5 per cent.
'There's been enough evidence of weakness in the economy with quite soft growth in recent times,' he said.
