The Business Council of Australia says new research shows workers are better off under such agreements, but to lift productivity and wages growth, the complexity of the process needs to be unscrambled while being more flexible.

The council's chief executive Jennifer Westacott says agreements have become "Downton Abbey-sized laundry lists", containing way too many items.

"This bogs down negotiations, and agreements are taking too long to conclude. We can't allow the EBA system to die the death of a thousand cuts," she said releasing the report on Saturday.

"We need to create the right environment for employers to grow their operations, with investment and innovations that drive productivity improvements."

She said in a tough, competitive world it's in everyone's interests that workers and their employers can come together to adjust quickly to changing circumstances, such as new competition or technological change.

"Employers need the ability to adjust and change their operations quickly, and ensure the benefits of improved productivity are passed through to workers with higher wages and better condition," she said.

But Senator Gallagher, Labor's finance spokeswoman, doesn't think anything should be done to disadvantage working people.

"It is always working people that are the ones that have to give up something when people start talking about reform and productivity," she told reporters in Canberra.

"Let's face it, we have company profits at record highs, we have wages at record lows, we have got household incomes going backwards ... it is working people who aren't getting their fair share at the moment."

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the Business Council's suggestion would lead workers on the "wrong path", and would encourage employers to pay their staff even less.

"This suggestion would let employers pay people lower than the current legal minimum standards and make good employers who pay fairly compete with those who just want to cut wages," she told AAP.

"Working people need wages to go up and local businesses need customers with money to spend."

The lack of wages growth was a key talking point when Reserve Bank governor Philp Lowe faced federal politicians in Canberra on Friday.

Dr Lowe does not expect pay packets will get much bigger in the next two years.

"It is probable that we will still have spare capacity in the labour market for a while yet, especially taking into account underemployment," Dr Lowe told a parliamentary committee in Canberra.

"This means that the upward pressure on wages growth over the next couple of years is likely to be only quite modest, and less than we were earlier expecting".

Australian Associated Press