FX.co ★ Australia Q1 Annual Wage Growth Beats Estimates

Australia's seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index saw a year-over-year increase of 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from a 3.2% rise recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. This growth surpassed market predictions, which anticipated a gain of 3.2%. The latest figures represent a recovery from the previous quarter's weaker performance, which had been the most sluggish wage growth since the third quarter of 2022. The uptick was largely influenced by an acceleration in public sector wage growth, which rose to 3.6% from 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024, while private sector wage growth held steady at 3.3%. In unadjusted terms, the electricity, gas, water, and waste services industry experienced the highest annual increase at 4.4%, followed closely by the education and training, and healthcare and social assistance sectors, both at 3.8%. Significant contributors to the quarterly rise included employment in the health care and education & training sectors. On a quarterly scale, wage prices rose by 0.9%, which was above the 0.7% gain seen in the previous quarter and exceeded the projected growth of 0.8%.