Manufacturing Industry Enterprise Bargaining Wage Growth Trends – October 2017 Update

Wage increases – Really? Update in Manufacturing Industry.

There has been a lot of recent talk of economic stimulus to drive wage increases. However, the position in the manufacturing sector continues to show that there is little appetite for sizeable wage increases. The trend in the table below shows wage growth as lowering. Wage increases have reduced by about 30% (3.4%-2.4%) in the last 4 years. The current analysis shows that new manufacturing enterprise agreements are offering 2.4% with the average duration of old enterprise agreements having a nominal expiry date of 2.8  years – a fairly long term hedge on no significant industry wage growth.

We’ve set out below a useful table summarising the trends over last three years of average wage increases in all Manufacturing Enterprise Agreements approved by the Fair Work Commission versus All Groups CPI.

Its broken down on a quarterly basis but the percentages have been annualised for ease of reference.

Manufacturing Industry Enterprise Bargaining Wage Growth Trends

• Australian Government, Department of Employment: Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining June 2017. Average Annualised Wage Increase (AAWI) per employee for Manufacturing agreements approved per quarter.
• ABS, Cat No 6401.0: Consumer Price Index, Australia, June 2017