Wages are up, but inflation cancels out any gains

Average hourly earnings for private-sector jobs, change from a year earlier

Wage growth has not kept up with increases in worker productivity over the past 40 years, as the vast economic gains reaped by the modern economy have not been not been shared by all workers. It is part of why income inequality has worsened in recent decades in the United States, something that has ushered in a host of other problems.

more relevant to the Australian situation is to compare the wage price index to the CPI from the ABS figures