ABETZ MUST SWAP FIBS FOR FACTS Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Brendan O’Connor has today called on Employment Minister Eric Abetz to swap his lengthy anecdotes for hard data and substantiate his fanciful claims of an “explosion” in wage growth. Mr Abetz has attempted to disguise his ultimate aim to revive WorkChoices by suggesting Australian workers are paid too much. Mr O’Connor said the Minister was long on rhetoric but short on facts. “In trying to argue that wages earned by hard-working Australians are spiraling out of control, Mr Abetz was full of fibs and free of facts,” Mr O’Connor said. “Mr Abetz is trying to build a narrative based on a falsehood so the Abbott Government can return to what it does best, attacking the rights and entitlements of workers.” Here are the facts when it comes to wage growth in Australia: • Wage growth in Australia continues to trend downward; • The most recent ABS Wage Price Index figures show wage growth fell across all 18 industry sectors tracked; • In the year to September 2012, 10 sectors had wage growth of 3.5 per cent or more last year. In the year to September 2013, that number fell to zero; • In the year to September 2013, three industries had wage growth less that 3 per cent a year. In the year to September 2013, that number leapt to 12; and • The Index shows the average wage grew by 2.7 per cent over the year to September, the equal lowest growth rate in wages in the 16 year history of the survey.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 22:44:21 +0000
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