Wages rose 1.9% in 2016

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the official wage price index for the December quarter.

Total hourly rates of pay, excluding bonuses, rose 1.9 per cent in 2016.

Wages rose 0.5 per cent in the December quarter, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Wage Price Index, matching market expectations.

The wage price index measures movement in underlying wages by calculating the change in wage and salary costs across a range of occupations.