Australia's jobs market has been on fire in 2017, adding an impressive 319,000 jobs in the year to August.

However, despite the recent surge in hiring — the strongest seen since the global financial crisis — wage growth remains stuck in the mud, particularly for private sector workers.

According to Australia's wage price index (WPI) released by the ABS, private sector hourly wage rates grew by just 1.78 per cent in the year to June, the slowest pace on record. With consumer price inflation (CPI) running at 1.9 per cent over the past year, that means real wage growth for private sector workers went backwards.

It mixed news for workers, or those looking for work. On one hand plenty of jobs are being created, but, as yet, that's yet to translate to a pickup in wage pressures, at least from a national perspective.