“The driving force behind this renaissance in contributions was a nine per cent increase in employer contributions and a staggering 23 per cent increase in member contributions,” said Alex Dunnin, executive director of research and compliance at Rainmaker Information.

Two-thirds of total contributions are paid through employers, with compulsory superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions accounting for slightly less than 60 per cent of all contributions paid.

Additionally, the research found that Australians paid on average 17.4 per cent of their total wages and salaries into superannuation in 2021–22. While most people pay only the compulsory 10 per cent rate (as at 30 June 2022), across the economy people on average pay much more.

This raises equity issues, casting a light on how generous the superannuation taxation concessions should be for people on high incomes.

While this ratio is up from 15.8 per cent in 2018, it is still down on the 20.8 per cent ratio it reached in 2017 before the introduction of the TBC that limited tax-free retirement savings to $1.6 million.

The TBC’s impact was so profound that if it had not been introduced, Rainmaker Information estimates total superannuation contributions would be equivalent to 23 per cent of all wages by 2022. This would equate to $212 billion or 30 per cent more than the actual aggregate amount in 2021–22.

“Contributions into superannuation were so strong through the past decade that each year they exceeded the amount paid as benefits by an average of 30 per cent,” said Mr Dunnin.

“However, the contributions above-SG rate has fallen one-third since 2009 to be seven per cent by 2022.”

The share of total superannuation benefit payments paid as lump sums, which had been consistently reducing up until 10 years ago, has now reversed course so strongly it appears to be the new normal.

In 2015–16, the share of benefits paid as pensions peaked at 62 per cent, but by 2020–21 it had collapsed to just 44 per cent before climbing back to 50 per cent in 2021–22.

 “Another major strategic shift is that the increasing rate of SG contributions, on its way to 12 per cent, has been accompanied by the squeezing down of the rate of voluntary member contributions,” Mr Dunnin said.

“These results affirm that while Australia’s superannuation market remains strong and continues to provide a stable platform for retirement savings, it is nevertheless undergoing profound disruption.

“This disruption will force super funds to sharpen their offerings, become more efficient and improve their businesses. The big winners from this will be super fund members.”