Tornado Alley (PROG)

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War on wages: Australians [Americans] are working harder and going backwards

"Trump’s Potemkin Economy"

I put "Americans" in there as you could pretty well substitute America in for Australia in this article and it would pretty
well fit for most everything. Just perhaps your wage growth is picking up faster than ours, and we were not hit as hard by
the GFC. Certainly the causes, consequences and proposed solutions all read as if this article was written about America.

By Anna Patty
Updated5 August 2017 — 5:58amfirst published 4 August 2017 — 12:15am

When Sahar Khalili started work as a casual pharmacist eight years ago, she was paid $35 an hour. Over the years that has fallen to as low as $30 while her rent has more than doubled.

The 30-year-old tried short bursts of locum work to try to balance the equation, but eight years after graduating her pay had not kept pace with inflation.

VIDEO - Why wage growth remains weak: NAB

NAB chief markets economist Ivan Colhoun looks at the possible reasons for slow wage growth around the globe.

"At the end of the day it also makes you feel that you are not valued by the pharmacy owner," she says.

Frustrated with the stagnating pay and increasing workload involving sales tasks unrelated to her pharmacy training and without any extra compensation, Khalili changed careers and now works in health IT. She still does pharmacy locum work on the side.

IMAGE - Sahar Khalili has moved out of her profession because of its wages. Ben Rushton

It is a tale that will resonate for many workers.

Most Australians have not had a pay rise in real terms in years in the face of an assault on wages which has policy makers, unions and business groups worried.

The typical Australian family takes home less today than it did in 2009, according to the latest Household Income and Labour Dynamics survey released this week.

Just on Friday the Reserve Bank cut its economic growth forecasts by half a percentage point for the rest of this year after confirming wages at their lowest share of total income in half a century.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has declared record low wage growth the "biggest challenge" facing the Australian economy.

Families are also wrestling with rising electricity prices, skyrocketing property prices and high demand for accommodation has also forced up rents.

There are many reasons given for the wage slump, some peculiar to Australia and others part of broader global trends.

GFC catching up

Having escaped the worst of the global financial crisis, Australian workers are now starting to share the pain of slow wages growth felt in the US since the 1990s and in Europe and Japan since the global financial crisis.

The mining boom and Rudd/Gillard government's multi-billion-dollar stimulus spending may have helped shield the economy from the worst of the GFC.

But since 2012 and 2013, Australian workers have felt stuck in a holding pattern of slow wages growth. Wages for the whole economy increased by 1.9 per cent in the year to March just in line with inflation.

[...]

"We've actually gone backwards," she says.

"I've learned to live with it. I have had to take on other related jobs to support myself. I haven't been able to make a living in my profession."

https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/war-on-wages-australians-are-working-harder-and-going-backwards-20170803-gxoh9c.html