Wage bargaining outcomes stay restrained

Wage growth under recent enterprise bargaining agreements has remained restrained, new federal government figures suggest.

The Department of Employment data released on Friday shows the average annualised wage increase through collective agreements during the September quarter was 3.5 per cent, up only slightly from the 3.4 per cent in the previous three months.

The annualised rate for the private sector was unchanged at 3.5 per cent in the September quarter, but public sector agreements rose from 3.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

Agreement outcomes remained above the Reserve Bank of Australia's preferred wage growth measure - the wage price index - released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The September quarter index showed an annual rate of 2.6 per cent - well below the 4.5 per cent level normally considered a threat to the inflation outlook.