Average Weekly Earnings data released today confirms that Australians are going backwards, despite Labor’s desperate attempt to claim otherwise.
While the headline figure shows average weekly earnings increased by 2.4 per cent over the year, once you account for inflation, Australians have gone backwards.
In real terms, the average Australian worker is around $1,200 a year worse off than they were just 12 months ago.
That is the reality Australians are living with: wages going up on paper, while the cost of living rises faster.
And Labor’s claims are even harder to swallow when you look at where wage growth is actually occurring.
Average weekly earnings in the public sector grew by 4.1 per cent over the past year - more than twice the 2.0 per cent growth recorded in the private sector.
So much for Labor’s claims that its policies are delivering stronger wages across the economy.
Labor can celebrate higher pay packets all it likes, but when inflation is running ahead of wages, those pay rises are simply being eaten away by the rising cost of living.
The fact is, Australians are poorer under the Albanese Government.
After more than four years of Labor, Australians are still facing cost of living pressures and their living standards are going backwards.
The Prime Minister promised Australians would be better off under Labor. It’s another broken promise.
Only the Coalition has a plan to fix the economy and restore living standards to help Australians get ahead.