Wages grow at fastest rate in eight years
Australian workers are receiving their biggest pay increases in around eight years according to the latest ABS figures - does that sound right to you?
Well, if we dive a little deeper the stats show that workers are actually continuing to go backwards with the gap between wage growth and inflation getting wider.
Wages on average have grown 2.6% in the year to June but the cost of living went up 6.1% which means people effectively took a 3.5% cent real wage cut over the past year.
People in the private sector fared better with 2.7 per cent increase compared 2.4 per cent in the public sector.
And overall those in the construction industry experienced the biggest pay boost over the quarter.
Economists are optimistic that more wage growth is ahead - but any pay boost will likely be cancelled out by the rising cost of living exacerbated by rapidly rising inflation, which is tipped to hit 7.75 per cent by the end of the year.