Australian average annual wage rise agreements rise in Q1 2018

Australian average annual wage rise in new enterprise bargaining agreements rose 2.7 percent in the first quarter, up from the 2.5 percent in December quarter and the 2.2 percent low in the third quarter in 2017. The rebound was comparatively widespread throughout industries, with the largest rises in the construction, administration & support and hospitality industries. The retail sector also saw a strong rise.

The share of industries with AWWI of 3 percent or more rose to 24 percent, up sharply from the low of 4.8 percent seen in the third quarter last year. The rebound was most apparent in the public sector were the AWWI rose from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent, while the private sector AWWI rose from 2.65 percent to 2.75 percent.

For policy makers, the EBA data is expected to further raise sentiment that wage growth is slowly rebound in line with the falling jobless rate. While the labor market continues to be patchy, with clear signs of tightness concentrated in some industries, the gradual improvement in wage growth from the lows seen in 2017 can now be seen across a number of different wage measures, stated ANZ in a research report.

At 13:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was bullish at 84.8846, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -131.546. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex