There will always be tension between workers and investors over who gets a greater share of the profit pie.

Key points: Dividends to shareholders increased by around a third over the past year, while wages rose 2.3 per cent

Dividends to shareholders increased by around a third over the past year, while wages rose 2.3 per cent The Reserve Bank has called for greater productivity growth to boost wages

The Reserve Bank has called for greater productivity growth to boost wages Business groups say higher wage rises could lead to fewer jobs

Business groups have expressed concern after Labor said it would consider boosting the minimum wage to a "living wage" should it win the next election.

The Coalition points out that wage growth is already off its recent lows, but it would like to see it rise faster.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg argues the best way to increase wages is through boosting productivity, cutting taxes and generating more jobs.

However, the suggestion, at least from some academic corners, is that this may not be enough and that company shareholders are indeed getting a much larger slice of the growing pie.

"The data, and the reality today, show that there is a much greater return to capital than there is to labour, and the wage/profit share is at quite an extreme level," University of Technology Sydney business school professor Warren Hogan said.

The share of GDP going to profits is at historically high levels, while the wages share is close to historic lows. ( Supplied: Citi )

Figures from online stockbroking firm CommSec, taken from its database of companies that have reported their half-year earnings, show that trend continued in the most recent results.

The data show that from February to June this year, around $30 billion will be paid to shareholders as dividends.

That is up from the $22 billion in the February 2018 earnings season, an increase of more than a third, although that figure has been pushed higher as some companies declared special dividends ahead of a potential Labor change to franking credit refunds that would reduce the benefits some shareholders receive.

Meanwhile, wage growth across all industries came in at just 2.3 per cent, on average, last year according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

'Too much focus on short-term profitability'

John Buchanan from Sydney University's Business School has been looking at the same set of numbers.

He suggested even a small redirection of funds from investors to employees would go a long way to solving Australia's low wage growth problem.

"It's a big flywheel," Professor Buchanan explained.

"It's usually the sector that sets the standard, so wage movements in the big companies actually are reported and that can set the reference point for a community wage norm."

Professor Hogan also believed such a move would bring about a material rise in wage growth across all industries.

"I don't think we have the right balance," he said.

"I do think that there is too much focus on short-term profitability."

RN Breakfast put that to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents tens of thousands of businesses of all sizes right across the country.

"As always, as with most things, it's a balance," ACCI chief executive James Pearson responded.

As for whether funds could be directed away from investors, and turned to employees?

"It's a matter for individual companies to make that decision," Mr Pearson answered.

"Because if the people who run businesses actually get the balance wrong, well they will go out of business, and then you might find one person's wage rise, ends up costing another person their job, and that's not something that managers want to see."

Professor Hogan conceded the risk of taking profits away from shareholders and giving the cash to workers is that it could lead to higher unemployment.

"Now that's not assured, and we could have system where some intervention can be helpful — whether that's in a minimum wage environment or more bargaining powers for people in the workforce, it's not clear," he said.

"But it's always important to remember that artificially boosting a price will have a 'quantity effect', as an economist would say, and that in this case is potentially for lower employment and higher unemployment."

Productivity growth elusive and often hard to measure

The Reserve Bank has been part of the debate, outspoken about low levels of wage growth.

However, the bank insists that improving worker productivity is the best way to nudge employee pay packets higher.

In a speech midway through last year, RBA governor Philip Lowe noted that productivity was "the key to building on our current prosperity and ensuring sustained growth in wages and incomes."

The big problem, argues professor Hogan, is that productivity growth has not budged in years.

"So the question is 'why aren't we getting that productivity growth?'" he asked.

"There will be productivity going on in individual companies, and in individual industries, but across the economy we have unusually low productivity growth."

That does not bode well for staff at one of Australia's biggest employers, Wesfarmers, the owner of retail chains including Bunnings, Kmart and Target.

RN Breakfast asked the ASX-listed firm if it would consider giving less cash to shareholders and more to employees.

A spokesperson said, "across the group, we have enterprise bargaining agreements, and in the pipeline that will include wage increases associated with productivity increases."

Sydney University's John Buchanan strongly disagrees with the notion of tying pay rises to productivity gains because, he argues, in many industries it is hard for workers to demonstrate they have increased their productivity.

"If we took that approach, hairdressers and barbers would be living on pauper wages," he said.

"Productivity comes from a range of things.

"We should be looking at the distribution of productivity across society, not just in the enterprise, and if we take that broader look on the determinants of productivity we usually get a better outcome."

Large parts of corporate Australia did well in 2018

Regardless of who is entitled to a greater share of the corporate profit pie, the data from the latest profit reporting period show that hard cash is now there to be distributed.

Around half of companies that just reported their earnings lifted profits, and a similar percentage lifted cash holdings.

In fact total cash held by companies rose by 5 per cent over the year to more than $91 billion.

ACCI CEO James Pearson conceded it was a "complex discussion"

"And that's why we are very wary of sweeping statements like, for example, the ACTU's call for a 'living wage', which would set the minimum wage much much higher than it currently is at 60 per cent of the medium wage, which would actually hit employers across Australia by almost $9 billion a year extra without any increase in productivity," he argued.

"That would be a real struggle. Small businesses who overwhelmingly depend on minimum and award wages — that will send a shiver down their spine."