Public servant wage deals outpace private

Subdued inflation and record low wages growth appear to be curbing enterprise bargaining deals in the private sector, but not so for public servants.

Department of Employment data released on Thursday shows the average annualised wage increase for agreements approved in the March quarter eased 0.3 percentage points to three per cent for private sector workers but rose to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent in the public sector.

However, both sets of workers were doing better under their agreements than the wage price index - the Reserve Bank's preferred measure of wage growth - which eased to a record low annual rate of 2.3 per cent in the March quarter.