Advertised salaries are rising but soaring bills crush any gains
Australian bosses are offering more to potential workers, but that will be little comfort to workers facing rising household bills.
Figures released by Seek show that advertised salaries increased by a further 0.4 percent in February compared to the previous month.
Australian bosses are offering a quarterly increase of one per cent, or 3.9 per cent in the 12 months to February, according to the employment platform.
This is accelerating with a 4.2 percent increase in the last six months; The fastest growth rate since the beginning of 2024.
But Seek chief economist Blair Chapman said while advertised wages were rising, this was little comfort to Australian households.
“Consumer prices have begun to rise rapidly again, mortgage costs are rising, and global uncertainty has increased to the point that many household costs are rising faster than they are currently,” he said.
His comments came after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the official cash rate from 3.85 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
The four major banks were quick to announce that they fully accepted the interest rate increase.
At the same time, the price of oil has risen from US$56 (US$A79) per barrel to over US$100 (US$A140) since the US/Israeli conflict with Iran began almost three weeks ago.
Every US$10 ($14.07) increase in a barrel directly costs drivers 10 cents per liter when they fill up their cars.
While employers are offering more money per role, the number of advertised roles has fallen over the past month, quarter and year, painting a bleak picture for new job seekers.
Job postings fell 0.5 percent in January, marking their seventh consecutive decline on a trend-adjusted basis.
Both the quarterly and annual decline rate have increased over the past two months, with job postings down 2.6 percent from February 2025.
Leading the declines was NSW, with a 1.1 per cent month-on-month decline in job postings, while Victoria and Queensland fell by one per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.
Western Australia was the only state or territory to record employment growth, up 0.2 per cent from February.
“The downward trend is driven by general caution in the labor market and this may continue for some time as global uncertainty increases,” Mr Chapman said.
“While it may be tempting to attribute this decline to the rise of artificial intelligence, our findings suggest that automation has not yet had a negative impact on job posting volumes.”
