’Tis the season to let loose the purse strings and spend up big – so can Aussie workers hope for a pay rise in 2022 to help pick up some of the festive tab??

In the United States, wages are already growing at their fastest pace in two decades. Consumer prices are also rising at above 6 per cent, prompting the US Federal Reserve Board chair Jerome Powell last week to ditch the term “transitory” to describe inflation.

Today on Please Explain, senior business columnist Stephen Bartholomeusz joins Jess Irvine to discuss whether higher US wages and interest rates could spill over here.