Pay packets are growing at their slowest rate since the early 1990s recession, at just 2.3 per cent a year.

But that is only the start of the bad news.  Experts are also saying the slowdown is more than what you'd normally expect to see in period of economic weakness.

Instead, it appears wages are being depressed by deep-seated or "structural" changes occurring with the economy, as it adjusts to life after the mining bonanza. And that suggests the wage malaise is likely to stick around for a while yet.

The slowdown in wage growth has been so sharp it has taken economists by surprise.

Wage growth always tends to slow when unemployment is rising – as it has been for the past few years – but the extent of the slowdown has been worse than expected.

Commonwealth Bank economists reckon one reason for this is that many workers remain quite worried about keeping their jobs.

Figures from Westpac and the Melbourne Institute show job security fears remain far higher than they did throughout the 2000s before the global financial crisis struck.

This can make staff less likely to try their luck with another employer, and more willing to accept lower wage rises than otherwise.

The labour market is also more flexible, so businesses find it easier to limit wage growth when things are soft.

And underlying all of this, wages are bearing the brunt of plunging prices for coal and iron ore, our biggest exports, which are down at least 30 per cent in the past year.  This plunge in prices translates into a big cut in national income.

Weaker income can be absorbed to some extent by a change in the exchange rate, lower interest rates, and a deterioration in the federal budget. But all three of those "shock absorbers" have done a fair bit of work already, and now wage-earners are feeling the pinch.

It's likely this situation will persist for a while.

Wages are typically one of the last things to respond to a lift in the economy, because many people's pay agreements are negotiated to last a few years.

At any rate, the Reserve Bank expects the labour market will get even weaker with unemployment rising from 6.2 per cent today to 6.5 per cent, and "remain elevated for longer".

Unfortunately, the bulk of evidence suggests it will be some time  before wage growth returns to the levels many of us were accustomed to.