Australians are still struggling to get decent pay rises and increasingly turning to side gigs to make ends meet, with new data showing 600,000 workers have three or more jobs.

The Morrison government's forecast of a wages recovery appears to be at risk after wage increases in new enterprise agreements fell for the second quarter in a row, locking in stagnant wages for hundreds of thousands of workers for the next three years.

More Australians are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Credit:Tamara Voninski

ANZ economist Catherine Birch said the reversal in the direction of wage growth revealed in data published by the Attorney General's department on Thursday "suggests that the gradual improvement we have seen in the wage price index could fade".

Separate data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics the same day showed a dramatic increase in the number of Australians holding multiple jobs, with a doubling of those working in four or more different positions in 2016-17.