Economic growth is starting to pull back across all Australian states and territories.

ANZ’s “stateometer”, which measures economic momentum across Australia’s states and territories, found activity across all states was slowing, and that Victoria and Queensland were performing below average. 

The March quarter report found a slowdown in new home building and consumer spending across the board.

But the report also found resilience in labour markets, with the jobless rate starting with a “three” in all states and territories bar South Australia.

However, employment growth has started to ease in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT.

On housing components of the index, rents were found to be lifted across all states other than the ACT.

This was largely due to demand outstripping supply, with the rebound in migration putting additional pressure on rental markets with already limited vacancies. 

A separate index from Employment Hero found wages grew across small and medium sized businesses.

The firm’s median hourly rate wage gauge, which captures the full amount landing in bank accounts such as bonuses and allowances, climbed 8.1 per cent in the 12 months to April and jumped 2.7 per cent over the month.

Employment Hero co-founder and chief executive Ben Thompson said wages were increasing much faster than figures recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics because it included bonuses and other salary add-ons. 

The official wage price index rose 3.8 per cent over the year to March, but the Employment Hero measure lifted 7.7 per cent over the same period.

Mr Thompson said according to his firm’s measure, wages were actually growing faster than inflation which moderated to seven per cent in the March quarter. 

“If we look at our data and acknowledge the actual increases to earnings over the past 12 months, it holds true that a lot of Australian SMEs have already increased wages,” he said. 

The median hourly wage for employees working for Australian small and medium-sized businesses was $36.40, up by almost $1 from March.

The index also found small and medium-sized businesses were still hiring albeit more slowly.

Average employment growth rose marginally by 0.04 per cent between March and April.

All industries captured by the index recorded employment growth aside from construction and trade services, which dipped slightly over the month.

By Poppy Johnston in Canberra