Document 1
s.47F(1)
3 October 2017
FOI Team, Parliamentary and Legal Services Unit
Ministerial and Communications Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600
To Whom It May Concern,
I write to request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) a copy of the
documents that constitute the Treasury “analysis” referred to in the Treasurer’s speech to
the Business Council of Australia on 28 September 2017.
In the speech the Treasurer referred to this analysis in the following terms:
“Consistent with this commitment, earlier this year I tasked Treasury to complete a thorough
analysis of what was happening with wage growth in Australia - or more accurately what was
not happening. I asked them what were the factors weighing down wage growth and what
would be the key drivers to boosting the take-home pay of Australians. This was work that
they undertook with the RBA, the ABS, the Department of Employment and other
government agencies.”
The documents I am requesting include, but are not limited to, briefs, attachments to briefs
and reports prepared by the Treasury.
Please note this request is limited to documents prepared after 1 April 2017.
Please feel free to contact s.47F(1)
, if you’ve got
any follow up enquiries on this FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
s.47F(1)
s.47F(1)
Document 3
From:
s.22(1)(a)(ii) on behalf of Grant, Angelia
To:
s.47F(1)
; s.47F(1)
Cc:
TSR Executive Minute Distribution; MEG MECD Executive; Ray, Nigel; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ;
s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ;
s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; MEG MMPD Executive
Subject:
RE: Ministerial Submission for Treasurer---Publication of information notes on wages---MS17-003652
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Date:
Friday, 10 November 2017 4:45:01 PM
Attachments:
171011 - master consolidated wages document.pdf
Hi s.47F(1)
As requested, please find attached the wages notes in one paper rather than as separate papers.
Ange
From: Grant, Angelia
Sent: Tuesday, 7 November 2017 10:06 AM
To: s.47F(1)
; s.47F(1)
Cc: TSR Executive Minute Distribution; MEG MECD Executive; Ray, Nigel; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; s 22(1)(a)(ii)
s.22(1)(a)(ii) s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii) ; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
s.22(1)(a)(ii) s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; s.22(1)(a)(ii)
; MEG MMPD Executive
Subject: Ministerial Submission for Treasurer---Publication of information notes on wages---MS17-
003652 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Hi s.47F(1) and s.47F(1)
Please find attached a ministerial submission on the publication of a number of information
notes on wages. The information notes are also attached.
Ange
Dr Angelia Grant I Acting Chief Adviser
Macroeconomic Group I The Treasury
Ph: s.22(1)(a)(ii) | Mob: s.22(1)(a)(ii)
Document 4
Please find attached an amended version of the consolidated briefs. Below are a list of edits.
Page 5: changed the sentence at the top of the page to be “Wage growth in Western Australia has fallen by
over 2 percentage points in the past five years, compared with the preceding five year period.”
Page 21: added the sentence “Lower inflation expectations are a cyclical drag on wage growth that is likely
to abate as inflation picks up.” To the end of the third paragraph under the heading
Although labour
productivity is critical for real wages, inflation expectations affect nominal wages
Page 23: changed “medium‐term” to “long‐term” in the first sentence under the heading
Labour
productivity growth has slowed
Page 40: the revisions following annual national accounts do not change the narrative on the labour share of
income (see charts below).
Page 41: added the sentence “In recent quarters, the strong rise in the terms of trade has resulted in an
increase in the profit share.”
Page 45: replaced the first sentence under the heading
Wage growth is fairly uniform across the income
distribution with
o
“An examination of wage growth by annual wage income decile shows that average annual growth
in total wage income was slightly higher in the lower deciles from 2005 to 2015. There was faster
average annual growth in all of the income deciles over the period 2005‐2010 compared to 2010‐
2015.” From the brief.
Page 54: the footnote discusses the robustness of the real wage analysis (the analysis used the GDP
deflator), we have changed the reference from CPI to household consumption deflator to be consistent with
chart 2 in the key drivers note.
o Also the pink text in the column has been shortened to “More productive businesses pay higher
average real wages.”
Page 64: Department of Employment have advised that once updated for revisions: “The share of
employees on current agreements linked to the CPI or the minimum wage was 18 per cent at the end of
2015.”
Chart 2 Income shares over time from (trends in the labour share of income)
Source: ABS cat. no. 5206.0 Source: ABS cat. no. 5204.0
Many thanks
s.22(1)(a)(ii)
s.22(1)(a)(ii)
Analyst
MacroeconomicConditionsDivision
TheTreasury,LangtonCrescent,ParkesACT2600
Phone:s.22(1)(a)(ii)
Email:s.22(1)(a)(ii)@treasury.gov.au
2
