Public sector pay rises to boost interest rates

A surge in public sector earnings will add to the pressure for another rate  rise next month.

That development was confirmed in a second set of figures, that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released.

These show that Australia’s public servants received a 5.8 per cent rise in their full time adult ordinary time earnings in the 12 months to the end of August.

That is on seasonally adjusted figures.

Like the wage cost index statistics, released earlier this week, these figures show public sector wage rises have far outstripped those seen in the private sector over the past year.

However private sector wage rises, in that time, have also been impressive.

The comparable figure, for private sector employees, was 4.9 per cent.

But the public servants, who are sometimes described as “fat cats,” are maintaining their lead.

Their earnings rose by 1 per cent in the latest May to August period, while private sector employees saw their earnings rise by just 0.9 per cent.

They suggest that Australia’s public servants have barely been touched by the global economic crisis, which began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September last year,