There are two ways that international competition can reduce wages. Both are effects of globalisation.
So many of the factors influencing low wages growth for Australian workers are also an important influence on CEO pay, although not necessarily in the same way.
ANGELA BRKIC/AAP
Data shows that growth in total CEO pay has outstripped average Australian wage growth in every year of the last five years. But perhaps we need to look more closely.
The option of “holding out” for a permanent job looks increasingly risky as these opportunities dwindle.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Nearly one in five employed Americans is bound by a contract restricting moves to rival companies. Here’s one way to make those arrangements less common.
The region with the most unequal incomes in Australia is Melbourne City, where the top 20% have an income that is 8.3 times as high as those in the bottom 20%.
Dan Peled/AAP
Building negotiating power is crucial for anyone looking to ask for a pay rise. But for those who can’t, perhaps it’s the employers’ responsibility to ensure fair compensation.
Pay rise? Why not, says the RBA governor.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Crucially, they differ in how they are calculated and the ages of workers that they apply to.
The treasurer referred to the A$13 billion “zombie” measures the Senate has failed to pass as a “Senate tax”, in justifying the tax increases in this budget.
Lukas Coch
The budget was extraordinary in many ways. It is an abandonment of restraint on taxes by a liberal government. It is nakedly populist and it also acknowledges that government debt can be productive.
Wealth inequality is no 21st-century phenomenon. But it was decisively shaped by public policy during the last 100 years as economies emerged from war and redesigned the structures for life.
Yes, it makes the world go ‘round.
Mark Strozier/Flickr
Economic arguments against immigration often rest on simplistic arguments of supply and demand. The data show immigration has a negligible effect on wages, employment or hours worked.