Household purchasing power continues to be eroded according to the latest ABS data on Average Weekly Earnings, which was released last week. The AWE data for May 2026 shows that inflation continues to have the economy in its grasp with wages rising but being outstripped by inflation. As our CEO Matt Pollock has previously highlighted, the situation is significantly worsened by the Federal Government spending more than they have while productivity continues to go backwards. 

Wages (ordinary time earnings) rose 3.7% across the country for the year to May, but inflation outpaced that rising 4.0% over the same period.

Next, public sector wages rose 4.4% over the same period, while those working in the private sector saw only a 3.5% increase.

The data highlights that, purely from an AWE perspective, people are better off living in ACT (AWE=$2290.20) where you benefit from the rise in public service wages or in WA (AWE=$2227.40) where you cash in on the wages paid by the resources sector. 

Here are the key numbers from the ABS release:

- Australian Average Weekly Earnings ($2083.70)

- Male AWE rose 3.5% to ($2181.00)

- Female AWE rose 3.8% to ($1964.50)

- Public Sector AWE ($2263.10)

- Private Sector AWE ($2034.10)

When we look across industry sectors, the stand-outs are Mining (AWE=$3224.20) and Electricity/Water/Gas (AWE=2546.00).

At the other end of that table were Accommodation & Food (AWE=1509.90) and Retail (AWE=$1581.60)

In construction, Average Weekly Earnings came in at $1985.30 with a $62 gap between males and females.