price-wage spiral
For some time now the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, has in his public remarks stressed that a wage-price spiral (where wages go up and prices go up as employers pass the increases on) would keep inflation high. In the economic data it is clear that, while there has been a modest increase in wages, it is not sufficient to produce the spiral that the Governor fears. Indeed he has commented that what we now need to look out for is a price-wage spiral (where prices go up and employees seek better wages to cover the increased cost in living). Others have pointed to a profit-price spiral where companies have put prices up to a level where they are making huge profits and that these increases are driving up the cost of living for us all. It is clear that employees are not the culprit in keeping inflation high but rather companies engaged in price gouging, claiming the pandemic and the floods as an excuse.