RBA Annual Conference – 2019 Low Wage Growth

The Reserve Bank of Australia's 2019 annual conference focused on ‘Low Wage Growth’. This year's Conference brought together senior central bankers, academics and industry to discuss the issue of low wage growth. It considered possible causes, consequences and international perspectives on the issue, including the possible effect of non-standard employment and other changes to work arrangements on wage growth; the effect of declining union coverage on wage outcomes in Australia; the possible role of changes in firm market power; and international perspectives on the relationship between productivity and wage growth; as well as other related themes.

The Conference was conducted under the Chatham House rule.

Papers

• Low Wages Growth in Australia – An Overview
  Presenter: Natasha Cassidy, Reserve Bank of Australia
  Download 607KB
• New Zealand Wage Inflation Post-crisis
  Presenter: Adam Richardson, Reserve Bank of New Zealand
  Download 770KB
• Discussant: Dongchul Cho, Bank of Korea
  Download 545KB
• General discussion
  Download 241KB
• Wage Growth Distribution and Decline among Individuals: 2001-2017
  Presenter: Guyonne Kalb, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne
  Download 3.94MB
• Discussant: Gigi Foster, University of New South Wales
  Download 637KB
• General discussion
  Download 231KB
• Non-standard Employment and Wages in Australia
  Presenter: Mark Wooden, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne
  Download 437KB
• Discussant: Rebecca Cassells, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre
  Download 161KB
• General discussion
  Download 232KB
• Immigration and Wage Growth: The Case of Australia
  Presenter: Christian Dustmann, University College London
  Download 846KB
• Discussant: John Daley, Grattan Institute
  Download 130KB
• General discussion
  Download 496KB
• Is Declining Union Membership Contributing to Low Wages Growth?
  Presenters: James Bishop and Iris Chan, Reserve Bank of Australia
• Discussant: Thijs van Rens, University of Warwick
  Download 706KB
• General discussion
  Download 240KB
• The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications
  Presenter: Jan Eeckhout, Universitat Pompeau Fabra Barcelona
  Download 387KB
• Discussant: Kevin Fox, University of New South Wales
  Download 788KB
• General discussion
  Download 226KB
• Wage Growth in Australia: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata
  Presenter: Dan Andrews, Australian Treasury
  Download 826KB
• Discussant: Dean Hyslop, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
  Download 438KB
• General discussion
  Download 492KB
• Decoupling of Wages from Productivity
  Presenter: Cyrille Schwellnus, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  See ‘Labour Share Developments over the Past Two Decades: The Role of Technological Progress, Globalisation and “Winner-Takes-Most” Dynamics’ for further reading.
  Download 981KB
• Discussant: Nada Wasi, Bank of Thailand
  Download 464KB
• General discussion
  Download 228KB
• Wrap-up Panel Discussion
  Moderator: Ian Harper, Melbourne Business School
  Panellist: Jeff Borland, University of Melbourne
  Panellist: Andrew Charlton, AlphaBeta
  Panellist: Sue Richardson, Flinders University
  Download 338KB
• Biographies of Presenters
  Download 338KB
• List of Participants
  Download 338KB