Workers’ Pay Globally Hasn’t Kept Up With Inflation
Kanebridge News
    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,666,984 (-0.52%)       Melbourne $1,025,140 (-0.29%)       Brisbane $1,079,790 (+0.21%)       Adelaide $987,421 (+0.48%)       Perth $959,727 (+1.13%)       Hobart $774,699 (-0.85%)       Darwin $821,142 (+4.72%)       Canberra $946,671 (-0.99%)       National $1,096,933 (+0.01%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $779,804 (-0.05%)       Melbourne $501,457 (-0.97%)       Brisbane $680,117 (+0.71%)       Adelaide $516,640 (-0.17%)       Perth $539,067 (+1.01%)       Hobart $528,172 (+0.12%)       Darwin $391,098 (+0.26%)       Canberra $495,303 (+3.15%)       National $576,956 (+0.40%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 12,076 (-85)       Melbourne 14,218 (-287)       Brisbane 8,085 (-106)       Adelaide 2,943 (+40)       Perth 7,410 (-63)       Hobart 1,202 (-4)       Darwin 165 (-4)       Canberra 1,087 (-18)       National 47,186 (-527)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,230 (-171)       Melbourne 7,611 (-611)       Brisbane 1,520 (-30)       Adelaide 404 (-17)       Hobart 212 (+1)       Hobart 215 (-13)       Darwin 287 (+2)       Canberra 1,186 (-1,198)       National 22,003 (-2,039)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $595 ($0)       Brisbane $650 ($0)       Adelaide $640 (+$10)       Perth $700 ($0)       Hobart $583 (+$3)       Darwin $720 (-$30)       Canberra $710 ($0)       National $681 (-$3)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $590 ($0)       Brisbane $650 (+$10)       Adelaide $550 (+$15)       Perth $665 (+$15)       Hobart $500 (+$18)       Darwin $550 (+$35)       Canberra $590 (+$5)       National $615 (+$10)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,732 (-16)       Melbourne 7,664 (+4)       Brisbane 3,892 (-6)       Adelaide 1,458 (-8)       Perth 2,305 (-13)       Hobart 236 (+7)       Darwin 76 (-1)       Canberra 465 (+5)       National 21,828 (-28)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 7,852 (-14)       Melbourne 5,484 (0)       Brisbane 1,900 (+20)       Adelaide 413 (-1)       Perth 778 (+6)       Hobart 90 (-8)       Darwin 86 (+7)       Canberra 544 (-22)       National 17,147 (-12)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 2.50% (↑)      Melbourne 3.02% (↑)        Brisbane 3.13% (↓)     Adelaide 3.37% (↑)        Perth 3.79% (↓)     Hobart 3.91% (↑)        Darwin 4.56% (↓)     Canberra 3.90% (↑)        National 3.23% (↓)            UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 5.00% (↑)      Melbourne 6.12% (↑)      Brisbane 4.97% (↑)      Adelaide 5.54% (↑)      Perth 6.41% (↑)      Hobart 4.92% (↑)      Darwin 7.31% (↑)        Canberra 6.19% (↓)     National 5.54% (↑)             HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.0% (↑)      Melbourne 1.9% (↑)      Brisbane 1.4% (↑)      Adelaide 1.3% (↑)      Perth 1.2% (↑)      Hobart 1.0% (↑)      Darwin 1.6% (↑)      Canberra 2.7% (↑)      National 1.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.4% (↑)      Melbourne 3.8% (↑)      Brisbane 2.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 0.9% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 2.8% (↑)      Canberra 2.9% (↑)      National 2.2% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND       Sydney 33.9 (↑)        Melbourne 32.6 (↓)     Brisbane 35.9 (↑)      Adelaide 30.2 (↑)      Perth 41.5 (↑)      Hobart 37.1 (↑)        Darwin 23.7 (↓)     Canberra 35.3 (↑)      National 33.8 (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND       Sydney 32.6 (↑)      Melbourne 32.8 (↑)        Brisbane 31.9 (↓)     Adelaide 29.3 (↑)      Perth 41.0 (↑)      Hobart 37.4 (↑)        Darwin 41.2 (↓)     Canberra 42.9 (↑)      National 36.1 (↑)            
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Workers’ Pay Globally Hasn’t Kept Up With Inflation

Decline in purchasing power could reverse this year if prices rise more slowly

By TOM FAIRLESS
Mon, Feb 20, 2023 8:55amGrey Clock 4 min

Wage growth across advanced economies is plateauing or declining from high levels. For central banks, it is good news: There are no signs of a spiral in which wages push up prices, which push up wages again. That makes it more likely inflation could decline without a significant increase in unemployment.

For workers, though, it is less positive. Wages rose faster last year than in the previous two years, but not as much as prices across major advanced economies, according to projections by the International Labour Organization. Workers’ purchasing power—their average inflation-adjusted wage—was lower last year than in 2019, before the pandemic, according to the report. So despite strong demand for workers and ultralow unemployment, labor’s share of economic output shrank in many advanced economies.

In the U.S., nominal wage growth—meaning unadjusted for inflation—has slowed sharply since the middle of last year, according to a variety of measures. Average hourly earnings for private-sector nonfarm workers rose 4.4% in the 12 months through January, down from 5.6% last March and less than the 6.4% rise in consumer prices in the year through January.

In Europe, average wage growth across six countries declined to 4.9% in December from 5.2% in November, according to a report by Ireland’s central bank and the recruitment company Indeed, which tracks advertised wages across millions of online job ads. Inflation in the eurozone ended the year at 9.2%.

In Canada, central bank chief Tiff Macklem highlighted easing wage growth to explain the bank’s recent decision to pause interest-rate increases after raising its key rate to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years.

“Wage growth is currently running between 4% and 5% and appears to have plateaued within that range… The risk of a wage-price spiral has diminished,” Mr. Macklem said.

Economists have noted that pay growth tends to lag, not lead, inflation as workers and employers adjust pay expectations to the prices they have experienced. Thus, the recent decline in pay growth might reflect, with a lag, the fact inflation peaked around summer and fall of last year in major economies like the U.S. and eurozone and has since declined, as energy prices fell sharply and global supply-chain pressures eased.

Why, though, did wages never catch up with inflation in the first place? One reason is that wages tend to be sticky, changing relatively slowly and sluggishly—over months and years—while prices can change more rapidly. Firms might be wary of raising wages aggressively since cutting them later would be bad for morale.

Now, slowing economic growth and the threat of layoffs might be tempering workers’ demands, said Andrea Garnero, an economist with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Labor unions in Europe have grown more concerned about job security than wages, he said.

Workers’ pay demands have been reasonable in part because their incomes were supported by government aid during the pandemic and energy crisis, said Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of Ireland’s central bank. “People understand that they can make things worse if they require the wrong [pay] deal,” he said in an interview.

Crucially, the number of workers, which shrank in the first months of the pandemic, is rebounding in many advanced economies, helping to ease shortages.

Some workers who left the labor force during the pandemic are being tempted back as pandemic savings dwindle and are eroded by inflation. Almost 83% of Americans ages 25-54 are working or actively looking for work, roughly back to the pre pandemic rate, according to the U.S. Labor Department. About 86.5% of Europeans ages 25-54 have jobs or are actively searching, 1 percentage point above prepandemic levels. The U.K. stands out for a decline in its labor-force participation coupled with unusually strong wage growth, suggesting that a shortage of workers could be driving pay higher.

Immigration has also rebounded strongly in recent months, hitting record levels in Canada, Spain and Germany as some governments try to make up for shortfalls during the pandemic.

In the U.S., net international migration added more than a million people to the population in the year through mid-2022, the Census Bureau said. Migrant workers could have helped fuel January’s robust 517,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls while keeping wage inflation moderate, said Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management. The same forces could be at play in Europe, he said.

History suggests that workers often fail to claw back losses from high inflation. In the U.S., periods of high inflation were, in general, periods of lower real-wage growth, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. High inflation in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s led to real income losses for workers, according to the country’s central bank.

But there are reasons to think real wages might recover soon. Wage growth remains around its fastest in at least a decade across a range of advanced economies. It could stay elevated as wage bargaining proceeds.

Absent a deep recession, unemployment could stay low enough to preserve some bargaining power for workers. The labor supply is being constrained by aging populations across advanced economies and increased worker absences due to illness, often Covid-19.

And markets are betting inflation will fall rapidly this year across advanced economies. If so, it could well fall below wage growth, so real wages would rise—along with workers’ share of the economic pie.



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Why Family Offices Are Emerging as Preferred Partners for CRED Managers

As Australia’s family offices expand their presence in private credit, a growing number of commercial real estate debt (CRED) managers are turning to them as flexible, strategic funding partners.

By Opinion: Faris Dedic
Fri, May 23, 2025 3 min

Family offices are increasingly asserting their dominance in Australia’s private credit markets, particularly in the commercial real estate debt (CRED) segment.

With more than 2,000 family offices now operating nationally—an increase of over 150% in the past decade, according to KPMG—their influence is not only growing in scale, but also in strategic sophistication.

Traditionally focused on preserving intergenerational wealth, COI Capital has found that family offices have broadened their mandates to include more active and yield-driven deployment of capital, particularly through private credit vehicles.

This shift is underpinned by a defensive allocation rationale: enhanced risk-adjusted returns, predictable income, and collateral-backed structures offer an attractive alternative to the volatility of public markets.

The Competitive Landscape for Manager Mandates

As family offices increase their exposure to private credit, the dynamic between managers and capital providers is evolving. Family offices are highly discerning capital allocators.

They expect enhanced reporting, real-time visibility into asset performance, and access to decision-makers are key differentiators for successful managers. Co-investment rights, performance-based fees, and downside protection mechanisms are increasingly standard features.

While typically fee-sensitive, many family offices are willing to accept standard management and performance fee structures when allocating $5M+ tickets, recognising the sourcing advantage and risk oversight provided by experienced managers. This has created a tiered market where only managers with demonstrated execution capability, origination networks, and robust governance frameworks are considered suitable partners.

Notably, many are competing by offering differentiated access models, such as segregated mandates, debt tranches, or tailored securitisation vehicles.

Onshore vs. Offshore Family Offices

There are important distinctions between onshore and offshore family offices in the context of CRED participation:

  • Onshore Family Offices: Typically have deep relationships with local stakeholders (brokers, valuers, developers) and a more intuitive understanding of planning, legal, and enforcement frameworks in Australian real estate markets. They are more likely to engage directly or via specialised mandates with domestic managers.

  • Offshore Family Offices: While often attracted to the yield premium and legal protections offered in Australia, they face structural barriers in accessing deal flow. Currency risk, tax treatment, and regulatory unfamiliarity are key concerns. However, they bring diversification and scale, often via feeder vehicles, special-purpose structures, or syndicated participation with Tier 1 managers.

COI Capital Management has both an offshore and onshore strategy to assist and suit both distinct Family Office needs.

Faris Dedic

Impact on the Broader CRED Market

The influx of family office capital into private credit markets has several systemic implications:

  • Family offices, deploying capital in significant tranches, have enhanced liquidity across the mid-market CRE sector.

  • Their ability to move quickly with minimal conditionality has contributed to yield compression, particularly on low-LVR, income-producing assets.

  • As a few family offices dominate large allocations, concerns emerge around pricing power, governance, and systemic concentration risk.

Unlike ADIs or superannuation funds, family offices operate outside the core prudential framework, raising transparency and risk management questions, particularly in a stress scenario.

So what is the answer? Are Family Offices the most Attractive?

Yes—family offices are arguably among the most attractive funding partners for CRED managers today. Their capital is not only flexible and long-term focused, but also often deployed with a strategic mindset.

Many family offices now have a deep understanding of the risk-return profile of CRE debt, making them highly engaged and informed investors.

They’re typically open to co-investment, bespoke structuring, and are less bogged down by institutional red tape, allowing them to move quickly and decisively when the right opportunity presents itself. For managers, this combination of agility, scale, and sophistication makes them a valuable and increasingly sought-after partner in the private credit space.

For high-performing CRED managers with demonstrable origination, governance, and reporting frameworks, family offices offer not only a reliable source of capital but also a collaborative partnership model capable of supporting large-scale deployments across market cycles.

Faris Dedic is the Founder and Managing Director of DIG Capital Advisory and COI Capital Management

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