Public Health
Nurses and midwives’ real wages almost $3000 less than a decade ago
A new report released this week from The McKell Institute titled ‘A decade of wages lost’ has found that the average real wage of an essential worker is lower today than it would have been at any time since 2011. Nurses and midwives are some of the worst affected, taking a real pay cut of almost $3000.
According to the report: “A first-year nurse working for NSW Health in 2022 earned an annual wage of $76,403.60. When adjusted to 2022 dollars, that same first-year nurse working in 2012 earned $79,184.68. A nurse is $2,825.33 worse off today than they were in 2012.”
Nurses and midwives are already working harder than ever, under ever-increasing workloads because of the NSW government’s refusal to implement safe nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses and midwives risked their lives throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’ve been repaid with lower wages and worse working conditions.
The report also stated that Australia’s low wage growth is a caused by a “deliberate result of Government policy architecture”, with some of the most detrimental policies being:
- Public sector wage freezes;
- Support for a reduction in penalty rates;
- Inaction on wage theft and underpayment; and
- Opposition to increases in minimum wages.
The NSW Liberal government’s consistent attacks on working people have suppressed wages and caused living standards to go backwards.
In NSW public hospitals, total patient admissions, chronically ill patients and hospital wait times are rapidly increasing, while understaffing continues to run rampant and real wages are decreasing.
It’s time the NSW government started treating essential workers with the respect they deserve and offer safe nurse-to-patient ratios and fair pay increases.