Australia’s Treasurer of propaganda, “Spin” Jim Chalmers, can’t stop spreading misinformation about the state of the economy.
A few weeks back, Spin Jim claimed that Labor had delivered the “longest period of consecutive real wage growth in almost a decade” following eight consecutive quarters of annual real wage growth:
Spin Jim’s brag came despite a 0.5% decline in real wages in the third quarter of 2025, with wages now tracking at mid-2011 levels. Australian real wages have only improved by 1.1% from their low in the March quarter of 2023.
To make matters worse, the public sector has enjoyed the strongest pay growth recently, while the private sector has seen a sharp decline.
Wages are also expanding substantially faster in the non-market (government-funded) sectors of public administration and safety, healthcare and social assistance, and education than in market-based industries:
Labor’s $5.3 billion in energy bill subsidies over the past two federal budgets have artificially cut headline CPI inflation and electricity prices.
Without Labor’s energy subsidies, retail electricity prices would have been 16% higher since mid-2023, resulting in a higher headline CPI and lower real wages.
The RBA’s most recent Statement of Monetary Policy also projects a modest recovery by the end of 2027, with real wages anticipated to remain at late 2011 levels:
As a result, Spin Jim has little to boast about in terms of wages. Labor’s record on this metric has been dismal.
Over the weekend, Spin Jim released more propaganda, boasting that Labor has delivered a big boost in housing supply since coming to office:
However, the ABS’ data on net dwelling additions (i.e., completions minus demolitions) shows that housing supply has stalled under Labor, with only 168,600 homes added to the nation’s housing stock in the year to September 2025:
Since the Albanese government came to office in June 2022, annual dwelling additions have only averaged 161,400. This is well below the 185,700 average dwelling additions recorded under the previous Coalition term in government (i.e., between 30 September 2013 and 30 June 2022).
Meanwhile, Labor has delivered the biggest migration boom in the nation’s history, with 1.23 million net overseas migrants landing in Australia between 30 June 2022 and 31 March 2025.
Over Labor’s first 1,005 days in office—i.e., between 30 June 2022 and 31 March 2025—NOM averaged an astonishing 1,222 a day.
As a result, Australia’s population growth exploded, surging by 1.52 million (1,511 per day) between 30 June 2022 and 31 March 2025:
Labor’s immigration explosion is the primary reason why Australia has experienced a worsening housing shortage and rental crisis, because population demand has run so far ahead of actual housing supply.
But you will never hear Spin Jim utter these truths.
Spin Jim was at it again following the RBA’s decision on Tuesday to keep interest rates on hold.
In his media release following the RBA’s decision, Spin Jim claimed that Labor has delivered a boom in private sector jobs:
“The private sector has resumed its rightful place as the key driver of growth, powered by the strongest growth in private investment in almost five years”…
“Of the 1.2 million new jobs created since Labor came to office, more than four out of five of them have been in the private sector“.
Once again, Spin Jim is being very loose with the truth since he has included government-funded jobs in the non-market sector (i.e., private sector jobs in healthcare, public administration, social assistance, and education) as private sector jobs.
The following chart from IFM Investors chief economist Alex Joiner illustrates the trickery:
Despite comprising just over 30% of total jobs in Australia, the non-market sector accounted for 69% of the nation’s new filled jobs since the beginning of 2023.
Spin Jim also boasted that Labor has lifted productivity:
“Productivity has lifted for four consecutive quarters and in the market sector annual growth is above 1 per cent”.
“Labor’s economic plan is all about helping with the cost of living at the same time as we modernise Australia’s economy to boost living standards, drive increased productivity, and make our budget more sustainable”.
Yet, the unprecedented growth in non-market sector jobs is a major reason why Australia’s recent productivity performance has been so poor:
Gross value added per hour worked in the non-market sector has fallen by 0.2% annually since 2015, whereas the market sector has experienced positive annual productivity growth of 0.7% annually.
Moreover, while Australia’s unemployment rate remains historically low at just 4.3%, this low rate has been artificially delivered by the government-funded boom in non-market sector jobs:
Spin Jim’s claims that Labor has boosted real wages, private sector jobs, productivity, and housing supply are highly misleading.
Chalmers is Australia’s Treasurer of propaganda.
