Since 2010, median incomes have risen only 15 percent in the outskirts of Sydney and Melbourne. (Sydney Morning Herald)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the median income growth rate of wealthy Australian urban residents has doubled since 2010. The gap between them and their less affluent neighbours is widening.
Median incomes in the outskirts of Sydney and Melbourne have risen only 15 percent since 2010, barely keeping pace with the rise in the cost of living, according to data released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, (ABS). Median incomes in Sydney's north coast, such as Manley (Manly), grew by 30%, double the rate of inflation.
The data could trigger a political debate in Canberra. With the next election looming, Labour and the Soyuz may be campaigning around how to deal with slow wage growth and how to counter cost-of-living pressures.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, median urban income in Melbourne, such as (Yarra), Besad (Bayside), Stonington (Stonnington) in Melbourne, was as high as A $60000, compared with 18-21 percent growth in 2010-2016. However, (Melbourne city) wages in Murben, home to about 67000 migrant workers, grew by just 8%. Most of the workers in this area are foreign students and part-time workers.
In Sydney, residents of Lekat (Leichhardt) had the highest median (annual) income of A $75500, followed by (Chatswood), Manley and Ku-ring-gai of North Sydney's (North Sydney), Taxi. The income growth rate of the residents in these areas is far outpacing the inflation rate.
Sydney's residents of (Merrylands), Feifei (Fairfield) and Auburn (Auburn) in Maryland, Sydney, are not so lucky. As many as 56 percent of the residents of these western urban areas are born overseas, earning about A $30000 less in mid-year than their coastal neighbours. Wages for most urban residents in the area barely kept pace with inflation, with the average annual income of Auburn falling by 2 percent in 2016.