This paper studies the effects of increases in payroll tax thresholds on wages, employment and capital expenditure in Australia. The estimates within provide no evidence in favor of the hypothesis that a lower payroll tax burden increases wages, employment or capital expenditure.

Despite many claims to the contrary, this paper finds there is scant empirical evidence of a causal relationship between superannuation increases and low wage growth and it suggests that increasing the Superannuation Guarantee 2.5 percentage points will give workers a share of productivity they have not been getting in the market – with minimal loss.

This paper uses novel microdata sources spanning 2001-02 to 2015-16 to explore the structural drivers of wage growth in Australia, with a view to better understanding recent weak wage growth – a phenomenon observed across a range of advanced economies.

This paper shows that employment growth in retail and hospitality has been far slower than in other parts of the economy (where penalty rates remained constant) and job-growth in the two sectors actually slowed by more than half after penalty rates began to fall.

This briefing note shows that just three specific actions by the Commonwealth government would lead to a significant rise in national wage growth, adding over $10 billion per year to aggregate wage income within three years.