Business View Oceania - Mar 2024

AUSSIES WORKING MORE FOR LESS PAYWHILE SMALL BUSINESSES EXPERIENCE SLOW JOBS GROWTH Source- https://inside small business.com.au, news editor, First Published 27th March, 2024 Employment Hero’s latest SME Index reveals a concerning trend: Australians are working longer hours for reduced wages, with small businesses bearing the brunt of the economic downturn. Despite a modest monthly increase in median hours worked (1.0 per cent) and an annual rise (2.3 per cent), wages have seen a downturn of -1.3 per cent in February. This decline contrasts sharply with a 7.5 per cent annual wage growth, which the index interprets as a sign of the early stages of market correction for median wages. The strain is most acute among small businesses (between one and 19 employees) as they are seeing only a 0.3 percent month-on-month (MoM) and 5.6 percent annual employee growth compared to medium businesses at one percent and 15.3 percent, then large businesses at 0.9 percent and 18.4 percent respectively. This data, correlates to the figures from ASIC released earlier last week which noted that monthly business insolvencies are at a nine-year high. The once-booming technology sector has now shown O p e n i n g L i n e s 5 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 06, ISSUE 03