Economists say workers on EBAs should not expect to see big pay rises anytime soon.

Enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) cover about 36 per cent of Australian employees, typically in more unionised sectors, and often contain higher than average pay outcomes.

But recent sets of agreements include average wage increases of 2.2 per cent per annum – a new record low.

There is also a record gap between annual pay rises in existing agreements (2.9 per cent) compared to new ones, showing wages are still on the way down.

“Given that they [EBAs] have an average duration of about three years, that means that these EBAs struck in the last quarter are actually going to impact wages for some time to come,” UBS economist Carlos Cacho told reporters this week.

Unless wages negotiated between unions and employers suddenly shoot up, the impact is likely to remain negative.

“It also suggests that the expectations of wage growth from both the RBA and Treasury, as well as others, are likely still too high,” Mr Cacho told the ABC.

“For us I think that just further reinforces our view that the RBA is going to remain on hold until at least 2019.”