Of course, the RBA hasn’t ruled out the need for further rate increases to combat inflation in the months ahead, but April’s decision provides much needed relief to those who are doing it tough.

The ARA last week made the first of two submissions to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review, recommending a 3.8% increase in the minimum wage from 01 July 2023 to help retail workers keep up with the rising cost of living. You can read our full submission here.

The submission follows deep consultation with our members, experts and economists and we believe an increase of this magnitude strikes the balance between an employer’s ability to keep pace with the rising costs of doing business, against an employee’s expectation that wages grow in line with prices.

In our submission, we recommended that the Commission take into account the projected fall in inflation through 2023-24 rather than focus solely on the high inflation that we have experienced in 2022-23.