The growth in full-time wages fell below inflation last year, leaving the median working Australian with an effective pay cut and underlining the cost of living challenge facing the Turnbull government.

Detailed figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show median full-time wages - which measure the pay rises of up to 70 per cent of the working population - fell below the increasing cost of a consumer basket, while full-time male casual workers have taken a pay cut for the past four years.

The figures are at the centre of a bitter political debate over inequality set to dominate Parliament for as long as anaemic wage growth continues and the cost of services such as energy, fuel and school fees surge at more than double the average pay rise.

Treasurer Scott Morrison acknowledged on Monday it had been tough on Australian wage earners "for many years now"