The tightening labour market in Australia has put upward pressure on wages, but is still behind the current inflation rate. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that wages grew 2.3 percent over the past year after it accelerated to 0.7 percent in the December 2021 quarter. Both public and private sector wages picked up by 0.7 percent during the quarter. ABS Head of Price Statistics Michelle Marquardt said the annual wage growth has continued to rise from the low of 1.4 percent in late 2020. “The proportion of pay rises reported over the December quarter was higher than usually seen at this time of year,” she said. “Wage pressure continued to build over the December quarter for jobs with specific skills.” Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox noted that wages growth had recovered to pre-pandemic levels and should assist in progressing towards full employment. “While the annual increase in …