Wages growth has fallen to the lowest level in four years, but the salary gender gap is continuing to close.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released today show that the average weekly ordinary hours full-time wage in Australia was $2083.70 in May 2026.
ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said growth in average weekly earnings for full-time adults was 1.6 percent in the six months to May.
“This was the lowest six-monthly growth since May 2022,” Mr Crick said.
“Annual growth to May 2026 was 3.7 percent which was the lowest annual increase since November 2022.”
Public sector wages grew by 2.3 percent over the six months while private sector wages rose by just 1.4 percent.
The biggest increases were in transport, postal and warehousing (4.3 percent) followed by wholesale trade (3.2 percent).
Queensland had the largest growth of all the states at 2.5 percent.
During the six months, the gender pay gap in average weekly ordinary full-time earnings fell two percent points to 11.3 percent, the lowest ever recorded.
The full report is here
