Figures show workers not receiving fair share of Australia’s wealth

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its quarterly update on GDP recently. The figures showed that while overall GDP growth seemed adequate, the share of income received by workers (in the form of wages, salaries and superannuation contributions) slipped again. The labour share of GDP fell another 0.15 percentage points in the June quarter.

As the Centre for Future Work said, “That means that even as the economy grows, workers’ living standards are not progressing – and for many Australians they are going backward.”

Working people’s share of overall income has fallen 0.3% in the last year, and more than 2% over the last couple of years.

ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus, said that the figures show the Federal Government has been serving big business at every opportunity, at the expense of securing fair pay rises for working people.

“These figures expose the lie at the heart of broken ‘trickle down’ economics. Massive profits for the big end of town will never generate pay rises if working people don’t have the tools and rights to win them.

“The system is completely out of balance and is only working for the biggest businesses. We need to restore balance so that working people get their fair share.

“This is not normal – other developed countries don’t have our broken industrial laws, and working people are sharing in the profits they generate.

“Even the IMF now recognises workers are missing out on pay rises because of our broken industrial rules.

Loco Division Secretary, Bob Hayden, said the recent figures highlight exactly why working people need to change the rules.

“Workers aren’t getting the fair share we deserve. The rules have swung far too far in favour of big businesses and workers are missing out.

“If you haven’t already, please sign up to the Australian Union’s Change the Rules campaign. Workers deserve better than this, but it’s up to us to join together and demand fairness.

“We have to change the rules so that working people have the rights and tools they need to win pay rises.”

See the Centre for Future Work’s graphic highlighting what the decline in workers’ share of GDP means for you below.