The latest GDP figures are a prime example of the great divergence of major economic indicators and the reality that most people feel after strong economic growth in the December quarter last year failed to translate into growth for workers’ wages.

The treasurer, Scott Morrison would have breathed a small sigh of relief when the figures were released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. While there was little expectation that the figures would be bad, had the economy gone backwards in the quarter we would have been in a “technical recession” (that most silly of phrases) given the September quarter saw the economy shrink 0.5%.

The December quarterly growth of 1.1% in seasonally adjusted terms was well above expectations and enabled the treasurer to talk of how “Australia is growing faster than every G7 economy”.

And certainly 1.1% quarterly growth is very strong. But before we turn up the music and start dancing in wild celebration, we should have a closer look, and a deep breath.

Firstly, a big reason for the strong growth is because the figure is a comparison with the September quarter: December looks good purely because September was so bad.

It is why the trend and seasonally adjusted figures tell rather different stories. In trend terms, the economy grew just 0.3% in the December quarter:

And in the annual figures – which enable us to do more than just compare one bad quarter with one good one – we see the picture is pretty uninspiring.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the economy grew by 2.4% in 2016, well below the long-term average and in trend terms it grew by just 1.9%, which is actually the worst annual growth since during the GFC:

Thus the story the treasurer is able to tell is due quite a bit to the convention that we report the seasonally adjusted figure as the big number rather than the trend figure.



And the seasonally adjusted figures can be a bit weird at times and not completely reflective of the true state of the economy.

In the December quarter the big contributions to growth were household consumption, exports and public investment:

The public investment was due to spending on the second NBN satellite as well as defence aircraft procurements. The growth of exports is not unexpected, but again shows the erratic nature of seasonally adjusted figures, given the past two quarters saw net exports detract from growth:

The growth in household spending is a bit odd given that in the December quarter the big driver was on more luxury type items, such as household furnishings and recreation and culture:

The annual figures however are more understandable – rent, insurance and health being the big drivers of household spending. And while consumption remains a key component of our economic growth it remains well down on the levels the occurred prior to the GFC:

A closer look at the national accounts explains why, because the real story of the GDP figures is how nominal growth has taken off and how wages have not. Nominal GDP grew by a whopping 3% in the December quarter alone – the strongest increase in one quarter since June 2010. The annual growth of 6.1% in seasonally adjusted terms and 5.2% in trend terms is the best for over 5 years:

The strong nominal GDP growth would bring a big smile to the treasurer given nominal GDP is a better guide for tax revenue than is real GDP – because taxes are paid in current dollars, not dollars minus inflation.

The big driver of the nominal growth was increases in our export prices such as for iron ore and coal. The terms of trade in the December quarter grew by 9.1% in seasonally adjusted terms – the third biggest quarterly jump in the past 40 years. Even the trend growth of 6% is historically huge:

But workers are not feeling the benefits. Because the growth is driven by export prices rather than through domestic demand, a great disconnect has occurred.

While nominal GDP growth grew by the strongest level for seven years, wages and salaries actually went down 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis – the biggest quarterly fall since 1993. Even the trend growth of 0.2% is the lowest recorded outside of the GFC and the 1990s recession.

That is not meant to happen. Usually when nominal GDP grows, so too do wages and salaries – but not at the moment:

Over the past 30 years the relationship between nominal GDP and earnings has been very strong. On average when nominal GDP has grown over a year by 5.2%, then wages and salaries should grow by around 5% rather than the current rate of 1.8%:

It’s indicative of the truly woeful wages growth we are currently experiencing – a growth that is out of whack with the state of the economy.

There is for example usually a strong connection as well between the unemployment rate and wages growth (known as the Phillips curve). Generally as the unemployment rate falls, the growth of wages rises because there is more demand for workers and so employers have to pay more to keep workers and attract new ones.

But right now the relationship has utterly broken down.

Over the past 20 years, an unemployment rate of 5.7% that we currently have would be associated with wages growing by around 3.4%; instead wages (as defined by the wages price index) are growing by a record low of just 1.9%:

There is bugger all reason for business groups to be complaining about industrial relations at the moment – especially in light of the penalty rates decision. In historical terms workers are the ones who are missing out.

This is highlighted as well by the labour cost figures in the national accounts. Real unit labour costs in 2016 fell by 4.2% in seasonally adjusted terms – the biggest annual fall ever recorded.

In real terms, the cost of labour is now lower than it ever has been:

The big number in the GDP figures might suggest things are improving, but what the numbers really highlight is that things are not as strong as the erratic quarterly growth figure would suggest, and that workers are more than ever before missing out on the benefits of the growth that does exist.