Australia’s wage growth continues to make headlines, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reporting total wages and salaries paid by employers reached $103.9 billion in June 2025 – up 5.9% from June 2024.
Wage growth steadied in Q2, with the Wage Price Index up 0.8% for the quarter and 3.4% annually, as fewer large pay rises and higher under-employment signal moderating labour market pressures.
This boost in household incomes comes as property market momentum builds, with consumer confidence on the rise – fuelled by RBA rate cuts and improved buyer sentiment.
“The 5.9% annual growth in total wages and salaries paid by employers between June 2024 and June 2025 was similar to the annual growth we saw to June 2024, when wages grew by 6%,” Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said in a media release.
Crick noted that aggregate wage measures can be influenced by factors such as the number of people paid, hours worked, seasonal payments, and one-off events. For a clearer picture, he recommends looking at annual growth.
“By adding together 12 months of wages and salaries paid in a financial year, and comparing the annual growth, we can gain better insights into underlying growth,” Crick said.
“Total wages and salaries paid by employers totalled $1,219 billion in the 2024-25 financial year, growing 5.9 per cent from the 2023-24 financial year. This was lower than the 7% between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 years,” Crick said.
The health care and social assistance sector was a major driver.
“The health care and social assistance services industry held the largest share of total wages and salaries paid by employers, with 14.6% of the 2024-25 financial year estimate,” Crick said.
“This industry’s rise of $14.8 billion from the 2023-24 financial year, was 21.6% of the total increase in wages and salaries paid by all employers in the 2024-25 financial year.”
The public administration and safety sector also saw significant gains.
“The public administration and safety industry saw the second largest growth in wages and salaries in dollar terms in the 2024-25 financial year of $8.5 billion and also had the strongest increase from 2023-24 financial year growth (up $1.3 billion),” Crick said.
Crick attributed this to “large state government pay rises, one-off payments such as backpay, and temporary jobs which supported the federal election in May 2025.”
For mortgage brokers, these wage trends are crucial. Rising wages can boost borrowing power, support loan serviceability, and underpin housing demand – especially as living costs and property prices remain elevated.
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