Australia’s retail industry has recorded the lowest quarterly rise in wages, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Retail trade wages growth was just 0.2 per cent in the June 2025 quarter, adding to an overall slip in wage growth.
Annually, retail wage growth was the second lowest at 2.9 per cent, behind financial and insurance services, where wages lifted 2.6 per cent.
The ABS’ Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.8 per cent in the June quarter 2025 and 3.4 per cent annually, with the former down from a 0.9 per cent rise in the March quarter.
Annual wage growth of 3.4 per cent was unchanged from March, but is down from 4.1 per cent recorded in the June 2024 quarter.
Alongside the softening of wage growth, ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said the share of wage changes greater than 4 per cent has declined since this time last year.
“The smaller proportion of jobs with larger wage increases has contributed to lower overall wage growth,” Marquardt said.
Seasonally adjusted quarterly private sector wages rose 0.8 per cent in June 2025, while public sector wages rose 1.0 per cent.
“This quarter’s lift in the public sector reflected backdated pay rises from recently approved state-based enterprise agreements coming into effect, coupled with regular scheduled pay increases.” Marquardt said.
“Both the private and the public sectors had lower annual wage growth compared to the June quarter 2024. Wages in the private sector grew 3.4 per cent over the previous 12 months, lower than the 4.1 per cent growth recorded in the year to June 2024.
“Annual public sector wage growth was at 3.7 per cent this quarter compared to 3.9 per cent at the same time last year.”