Salaries advertised on its website increased by 0.2 per cent in May after a 0.3 per cent increase in April. Annual growth remained steady at 4.3 per cent while the quarterly increase was also static at 0.8 per cent.

SEEK’s head of customer analytics, Leigh Broderick, said advertised salary growth had levelled out this year at between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent a month.

“As the labour market softens, advertised salary growth is expected to ease, which it has done since September last year, where it peaked at 4.9 per cent year-on-year,” he said. “The steady month-on-month results this year point to the annual rate continuing to moderate in the coming months.”

Bureau data this week showed monthly inflation climbing to an annual rate of 4 per cent in May, from 3.6 per cent in April. Financial markets now put the chance of an interest rate rise at the RBA’s August meeting at 50:50.

The Coalition on Thursday ramped up its attack on the government’s management of the economy, accusing it of running “three failed budgets”.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the federal government was keeping inflation elevated.

“So the history of inflation all around the world throughout history has been very simple. If you leave all the work to the Reserve Bank, then either you completely wreck the economy or you don’t beat inflation,” he said. “The government has to do its bit.”

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was using the budget to relieve financial pressures on families, pointing to energy-bill relief and next week’s stage 3 tax cuts.

Loading

“We are determined to make a difference. We want an economy that works for people, not the other way round,” Albanese said.

“That’s why all of our cost-of-living measures are designed in a way to assist the economy and lowering inflation.”

A key element of the government’s economic policy is its $23 billion Future Made in Australia agenda, which includes measures such as production credits to support the development of critical minerals and green hydrogen, plus direct investment in quantum computing.

On Friday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will release consultation papers on the production credits while confirming the legislation governing Future Made in Australia will go to parliament next week.

In an address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Chalmers will argue the legislation and rules will bring rigour to a policy that has been attacked by many economists as a risky government intervention.

“We’ve crafted these tax incentives with the rigour, discipline and ambition which characterises our whole agenda,” he will say.

The legislation will set out the national interest framework, with Chalmers confirming prospective projects will have to show they build on Australia’s comparative advantage in reducing carbon emissions or have an “economic security imperative”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.