The Australian http://www.news.com.au/ WAGE RISES FALTER AS PROFITS SOAR By Economics correspondent IAN HENDERSON 19nov99 NEW figures show Australian companies are enjoying record profits at the same time as wages growth has slowed to little more than a trickle. The figures, released yesterday, show profits boomed to a high of almost $15 billion in the three months to September, but average wages and salaries fell during the same period. Profits in the quarter were 17.3 per cent higher than a year ago, a growth welcomed by the Australian Institute of Company Directors as clear evidence of a "push for performance". Over the same period, wages grew 1.8 per cent, the lowest annual rise for six years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The ACTU said the contrasts were "another illustration" of the gulf separating winners and losers in the Australian economy. ACTU secretary Greg Combet said: "The question is, what sort of society do you want =96 one that is divided or one with social cohesion?" And Institute of Company Directors chief Ian Dunlop warned that any widening of the gap between executive salaries and workers' pay could create trouble. "If it continues to grow, it will cause concern within the community," Mr Dunlop said. The ABS reported yesterday that seasonally adjusted company profits before tax, interest payments and depreciation increased by 6.5 per cent to a record $14.945 billion in the September quarter. Business Council of Australia chief executive David Buckingham said the results showed the benefits of economic reform. "Companies that have embraced reform agendas are reaping the benefits," he said. "The fact that there has been a relatively strong profits performance should not be a surprise at a time of high economic growth." Mr Buckingham, corporate Australia's senior lobbyist, noted that growth had been delivering enough jobs to ensure a fall in the unemployment rate. But divisions in the Australian economy were illustrated further by another set of figures that show more than 200,000 job-seekers effectively locked out of work. The ABS figures reveal that the number of people out of work and looking for a job for at least 12 months =96 the long-term unemployed =96 had edged down a fraction from 202,200 in September to 200,300 in October. The latest figure remains above the low of 196,700 recorded in July and August, but confirms that delivering jobs to the most-disadvantaged people in the labour force remains a tough challenge. Financial market economists scoffed at ABS figures showing that average weekly earning dipped by 0.9 per cent between May and August, although they conceded that wages and salaries growth for most workers was still modest. In the market-based private sector, earnings growth had been contained to just 1.3 per cent in the 12 months to August, the bureau reported. Faced with wages growth as low as that as company profits growth continued apace, the ACTU's Mr Combet was pessimistic. "What it confirms is our continuing search towards a US-style society and economy =96 a stark divide," he said. The ABS does not include banks in the companies it covers in its profits report, so the latest figures fail to show the record $7.2 billion result unveiled this month for the big four in 1998-99. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
