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Australian Wages Rises 0.8% in Three Months to April, Commonwealth Bank Says

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Wage Insights series showed wages increased 0.8% in the three months to April, with annual growth remaining steady at 3.1%, the bank said in a Monday report.

The series is based on de-identified salary data from around 400,000 Commonwealth Bank accounts.

The CommBank Labor Insights series shows employment growth remains stable, with an estimated 23,000 jobs added in April, the same as March.

The lender's economist, Harry Ottley, said the effects of rising interest rates or the Middle East conflict were yet to flow through to its wages growth data and that wages growth typically lags labor market and economic conditions.

"The trend unemployment rate has held at 4.3% since July 2025," Ottley added.

South Australia recorded the fastest pace of wage growth at 3.7%, responding to outperformance in the broader economy, with the unemployment rate the lowest in the country and economic growth the strongest. Western Australia maintained its equal highest wages growth ranking in April, with wages growth of 3.7%, decreasing slightly from March.

Wage growth in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland came in at 3.5%, 3.2%, 3%, and 3.3%, respectively. Tasmania reported the slowest wage growth at 2.8%.

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