Oh dear oh dear oh dear. The headlines are written by the sub-editors and we have a wonderful example of how not to do it today.

‘Wages Gap To Stretch Next Year’

Hhhm. What are they talking about?

Private sector wages will rise at twice the rate of the public sector
next year, experts have predicted, in the latest sign that the state
boom of recent years has come to a decisive end. The news will be
welcomed by many businesses, which have struggled in the past five
years to compete with rapid wage inflation in the public sector.

OK, the headline is obviously stating that as private sector wages are expected to rise faster than public next year, that the gap between the two will increase. Yes?

Unfortunately, public sector wages are in fact higher (even without including the different pension arrangements) than private sector. The evidence is here.

So the headline should in fact be, ‘Wages Gap To Shrink Next Year’.

Enjoying yourselves in Victoria lads?