Salary growth over the last year has been slower in the ACT than in any other state or territory.
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And in the last three months, the rate of pay for jobs being advertised has actually fallen in the ACT while it's risen everywhere else, according to the job search site, Seek.
"Advertised salaries are growing at a solid pace everywhere except the ACT", Seek's senior economist Matthew Cowgill said.
The company analysed the pay being offered to attract employees, and found it increased by more than 6 per cent in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, by more than 4 per cent in Queensland and Western Australia, and by more than 3 per cent in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
In the ACT, pay grew by 1.3 per cent over the year to October. It fell marginally - by 0.1 per cent - in the last three months from July to October 2022.
Part of the reason is the high proportion of people working for the government in the ACT - and government salaries have been slow to rise.
Seek says salaries over the year to October grew in every sector the company monitored, except "government", where salaries offered actually fell by 1.5 per cent. Salaries in government-dominated "Education and Training" grew but sluggishly (1.2 per cent).
In contrast, pay in "trades and services" grew by 6.2 per cent over the year.
"Public sector wages policy has been fairly restrictive and that has more of an effect in the ACT," Mr Cowgill said. He added collective agreements are less responsive to changes in the economy - and the public service has collective agreements.
The fastest growth of pay was in lower paid work like cleaning and call-centres, what the economist called a "booming bottom end".
At the top, high-salary end though, salary growth has slowed.
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Pay has grown across the economy but not by enough to keep pace with prices. And there are no signs of it taking off and turning into an inflationary spiral where pay chases prices and higher prices then prompt more pay demands.
"Although advertised salary growth remains solid, it's not keeping up with the cost of living. It's also not continuing to accelerate. This is bad news for workers in the short-term, but will reassure fiscal and monetary policymakers that we're not seeing a wage-price spiral that would further push up inflation," Mr Cowgill said.
"On a positive note, the lowest paid jobs have seen the biggest rise in advertised salaries in the past year, reflecting strong demand for workers in relatively-low paid industries and also the larger-than-usual minimum wage rise in July this year."
Despite the sluggish growth in pay, the jobs market was vibrant, with large numbers of applications for job adverts.
But there are signs employers are cautious, perhaps not keen to take people on at high salaries but waiting to see how the economy goes.
Nearly a third of the people in all jobs in the country are on bonuses or commissions - in other words, not on fixed, predictable pay.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said this 30 per cent of jobs which got bonus payments rather than the flat rate was the highest proportion since 2009.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
