Last week's surprise jump in the rate of inflation would have had a few people wondering whether they should go and see the boss for a pay rise.
After solid increases in the consumer price index over two consecutive quarters, the annual rate of inflation struck a two-year high of 2.7 per cent at the end of 2013.
While the CPI remains within the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) two to three per cent target band, it continues to grow from the incredibly low 1.2 per cent in mid-2012 - a trend that the central bank will be watching very carefully in coming quarters.
It also means that the rate of inflation has caught up with the pace of wages growth.
The most recent wage price index - the RBA's preferred measure of wages growth - was also running at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent in the September quarter, equal to the slowest rate in 13 and a half years.
But before anyone starts hammering on the boss' office door demanding more money, other data this week suggests wage earners might not be that bad off, even if they feel hard done-by.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' living cost indexes show that while the index for employees was also at a two-year high, it was up just 1.3 per cent annually after a modest 0.4 per cent increase in the December quarter.
However, the data showed that self-funded retirees probably have more to groan about with their living cost index jumping one per cent to 2.6 per cent.
Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James explained that while the CPI attempts to define changes in prices for the "mythical average person", the living cost indexes acknowledge that purchasing preferences differ between wage-earners, self-funded retirees and pensioners.
"The key reason why average wage-earners are enjoying more modest growth in living costs than other groups is because they tend to borrow more and interest rates have come down over the past year," James said.
But by contrast, James said self-funded retirees have fewer borrowings and tend to spend more on travel, books and going out to sporting events and theatres.
"Because interest costs aren't included in the CPI, the value of rate cuts on living costs tends to get lost in the debate about whether we are better off than a year ago," he said.
Of course, everybody's circumstances are different, and sometimes whatever you earn, it is just not enough.
Still, these dynamics could be different in a year.
The jump in inflation, which was even greater than what the RBA had been expecting, is seen ending the run in interest rate reductions since late 2011, or at least preventing a cut in the cash rate any time soon.
The central bank will hold its first board meeting of the year on Tuesday and is widely expected to leave the cash rate unchanged at an all time low of 2.5 per cent.
Of interest will be the tone of RBA governor Glenn Stevens' post-meeting statement, with the central bank having left open the door for a further rate reduction in commentary late last year.
"The board has maintained an open mind about whether we may need to lower interest rates further," Stevens told a parliamentary hearing just before Christmas.
The RBA will also release its quarterly monetary policy statement next Friday, which will contain any revisions in its economic forecasts.
Strategists at RBC Capital Markets, Su-Lin Ong and Michael Turner, who now expect any further rate reduction is off the table following the high CPI, say the RBA will need to raise its near-term inflation forecasts.
This will reflect the unexpected price surge late last year, and the fall in the Australian dollar since its previous predictions made in November.
However, they expect its sub-trend economic growth forecasts are unlikely to shift much with an "upward creep" in the unemployment rate still anticipated.
And therein lies the rub for Stevens and his board.
Recent economic data has been decidedly mixed.
Housing and retail spending figures have been buoyant, while business conditions more generally have perked up.
But employment growth remains weak and the transition from investment in the resources sector to broader, non-mining investment remains slow.
Ong and Turner expect the cash rate to remain unchanged at 2.5 per cent through to 2015.
Savers, like self-funded retirees, would probably want higher interest rates sooner.
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