The Business Council of Australia says there needs to be a focus on productivity to drive wages.

Labor’s first budget in almost a decade forecasts real wages will not start to grow until 2024, when unemployment is tipped to have increased 1 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott told Ben Fordham the October budget is a good one for this period in time.

“What matters now is the budget in May … it has to be about getting the economy cracking.

“Our productivity is at a 60-year low – that’s the biggest handbrake on wages.”

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