New report reveals the average annualised wage increase for enterprise agreements in Australia
Employees covered by enterprise agreements received an average annual wage increase of 3.7%, according to new government data, which revealed strong enterprise bargaining activity across the country.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) released a new report this week outlining the trends in federal enterprise bargaining in Australia.
It revealed that the average annualised wage increase for agreements approved in the December quarter of 2025 was 3.7%. This is slightly below the 3.9% in the September quarter of 2025, but remains above the five-year average of 3.5%.
The average annualised wage increase was above the national average for the private sector at 3.8%, outpacing the public sector's 3.2% in the December quarter.
The largest quantifiable private sector agreement approved in the December quarter is the Healthscope NSW Nurses and Midwives Enterprise Agreement 2024. It covered 4,232 employees with an average annualised wage increase of four per cent.
In the public sector, the largest quantifiable agreement approved in December is the Monash City Council Enterprise Agreement No. 11, 2025. It covers 1,388 employees with an average annualised wage increase of 3.5%.
By state, Victoria logged the highest average annualised wage increase of 4.2%. This is followed by the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and South Australia with 4.1%.
Enterprise agreements in Australia
The average annualised wage increase is calculated based on 941 agreements with quantifiable wage increases in the December quarter of 2025.
This is 87.9% of the 1,072 agreements approved in the quarter. It also covers 82,600 employees, or 46.4% of the 178,900 employees covered by all approved agreements in the December quarter of 2025.
Overall, there are 11,460 current agreements in Australia as of December 31, 2025, covering 2.74 million employees. This is higher than the 11,019 agreements recorded on September 30, 2025, which covered 2.65 million employees.
According to the report, 9,137 of all the agreements as of December 31 contained quantifiable wage increases, with the annualised average wage increase for these deals reaching 3.9%.
The DEWR said this is the ninth consecutive quarter where enterprise agreement wages have delivered real pay rises, meaning employees' pay is allowing Australians to better manage cost-of-living pressures.
"These figures show enterprise bargaining is working, delivering real pay rises that help Australians keep up with the cost of living," said Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth in a statement.
