2019.05.1502:44:00UTC+00Australia's Wages Grow At Less-Than-Expected

Australia's wages grew less-than-expected in the March quarter, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday.

The wages price index climbed 0.5 percent sequentially in the first quarter. That was just below the 0.6 percent rise economists had forecast.

On a yearly basis, wages increased at a steady pace of 2.3 percent in the March quarter, for the third quarter in a row, and in line with expectations.

Wages in private sector rose by 0.5 percent and that in the public sector grew 0.4 percent over the previous quarter.

"The main contributors to growth over the quarter were regularly scheduled wage rises in the Health care and social assistance and Education and training industries, as was the case in the previous March quarter," ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said.