Reviewing wage data, Hancock and Safari point out that a survey made in May 2000 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a continuation of the trend, dating from 1975 or earlier, toward greater inequality. Commenting on evidence about pay differences between males and females, they say that over the 1990s there was little change at the median. They speculate whether this is an effect of enterprise bargaining. With the trends removed, there is a close correspondence between the two series. Without estimating the respective contributions of these factors, they draw attention to recent US emphasis on the effects of computerisation.
Productivity appears to have fallen in recent quarters.
This is a likely effect of the end of the boom.