Australia’s wage price index rose 0.8% in the quarter ended in June and was up 3.6% year over year, according to seasonally adjusted data released Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index had risen by 3.7% year over year in the quarter ended in March.

“Wage rises from regular June quarter salary reviews were higher than in the same period last year, as recent cost of living and labour market pressures were incorporated into organisation-wide decisions on wages,” Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said in a press release.

“Compared to a year ago, fewer jobs had wage increases this quarter, however, on average, the increases received were higher. In particular, the share of jobs which received increases above 3% was the highest for a June quarter since 2012,” Marquardt said.

Looking at just the private sector, the wages grew 0.8% in the June quarter compared to the March quarter. Year-over-year growth was 3.8%.

In the public sector, wages rose 0.7% quarter over quarter and 3.1% year over year — the highest recorded for the sector since 2013.

The wage index data had raised concern at the Australian Industry Group.

“While today’s wage price index release from the ABS points to continued wage moderation and is positive for the inflation and employment outlook, it appears likely to understate the ongoing build-up of wage pressures,” Innes Willox, chief executive of the national employer association Ai Group, said in a press release on Tuesday.

“As the ABS notes, an unusually high proportion (38%) of wage increases negotiated in the June quarter saw increases of greater than 4%. This is more than double the proportion in the same quarter in 2022 (17%),” Willox said. “This, together with the large increase in wage rates now in the pipeline for the September quarter due to the high increase in award rates granted by the Fair Work Commission, will sound a note of caution when the Reserve Bank next considers the underlying price and wage pressures in the economy.”