Australian households have run down their savings by $46.4 billion over the past four years and crimped their spending on daily needs to offset higher income taxes and sluggish wages growth.

Final Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures for 2018-19 also reveal labour productivity has turned negative for the first time while the nation's dependence on mining exports has reached a record high.

Australians have run down their savings by $46.5 billion over the past 4 years on the back of slow wages growth. Credit:Josh Robenstone

The economy grew 1.9 per cent through the just-completed financial year, its slowest performance since the depths of the global financial crisis but maintaining its 28-year run of continued expansion.

Despite the growth, and unemployment at 5.2 per cent, wages growth has disappointed policy makers and the Reserve Bank for several years. New Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy this week said there appeared to be a range of factors preventing a strong lift in wages.