Ahead of Wednesday’s GDP figures, the government is in full expectations-management mode as the data leading up to the release suggests the weak economy and disparity in profit and wages growth remains in place.

It’s a pretty clear sign that a government is not expecting decent GDP figures when the prime minister is suggesting we should basically ignore them and wait for the ones to come out in three months’ time.

On Monday Scott Morrison said of the upcoming GDP figures that the government knew the economic situation was deteriorating when it handed down the budget in April and that it was done “in the full knowledge that we would be facing a very difficult quarter, particularly in that June quarter, and I suspect the June quarter results will be soft”.

But he said, not to worry, “the June quarter, of course, does not include the second of the cash rate reductions from the RBA, nor does it include the tax cuts that came through ... So our view is we have got the plan, let’s have a look at the September quarter results which will take into account obviously the first round impacts of what came out of the tax cuts and the cash rate cuts and then we’ll go from there”.

That’s all well and good, except of course the government was in charge for the five and a half years before the June quarter so it’s a bit rich to say ignore that and wait for September when our plan starts working.

And the problem is the news is not all that great.

Yes, Morrison pointed to signs that house prices are again rising – which is good, I guess, if you are looking to sell your house. But if house prices did not begin to rise off the back of two interest rate cuts, then things would be pretty dire.

The RBA, however, is very much hoping it is not just prices that go up. The Reserve Bank cuts rates to stimulate economic activity.

And it sure as heck needs stimulating.

The latest credit growth figures from the Reserve Bank, released on Friday, showed a jump in owner-occupier housing credit in July, but the annual growth figure remain weak, as does business credit – which fell below 4% annual growth for the first time since August last year:

The latest building approvals figures out last week also showed the 20th consecutive month of falling private dwelling approvals:

Mostly this follows a severe drop in the number of approvals for apartments and flats, but approvals for houses have been falling for 16 months now as well.

The non-dwelling construction front is not showing much life either.

The latest private new capital expenditure figures – which count investment on machinery and equipment, and building and structures – showed an overall fall in the June quarter, the fourth fall out of the past five quarters:

Worryingly, while the falls in mining investment are to be expected, the fall in non-mining investment over the past six months reverses what had been a nice period of growth.

The slightly good news is that the latest estimate for investment for 2019-20 shows a small improvement on the last financial year – including growth in mining investment for the first time in seven years:

But that growth is yet to come, and will not be here in time to boost Wednesday’s GDP figures. And while Morrison might suggest the current quarter we are in will show an improvement (you would bloody well hope so, given the cuts in interest rates and the tax cuts), the signs are not fantastic.

The latest ANZ job advertisements survey, out yesterday, showed a 2.8% fall in August. As ANZ’s head of Australian economics, David Plank, notes the drop is “consistent with other data, suggesting the outlook for the labour market is softening. In particular, the NAB survey points to slowing employment growth. The sharp downturn in building activity isn’t likely to be helping either.”

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Also out yesterday was the latest Commonwealth Bank Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which showed “a further moderation in growth of Australia’s manufacturing sector in August”.

The report notes that it reflects “a weakening sales trend” and a slowing of new work “despite rising export sales”.

It concludes that “softer demand conditions saw firms cut back on purchasing activity, deplete inventories, as well as take on workers at a slower pace.”

So not great.

The latest business indictors, out yesterday, showed corporate gross operating profits results were mixed – the mining industry continues to do very well but other industries such as manufacturing, real estate and finance are struggling:

This is not great news given the standard link between profits and wages growth – a link which has been rather stretched of late. Over the past three years, total corporate profits grew on average by 15% each year, while the total amount of wages grew by just 4.4%:

Even if we take the mining sector out of the equation, we see that for over two years profits growth has been increasing while total wages growth has slowed and now is stagnant:

If profits are now looking to slow, that suggests any hope (such as it was) for better wages growth will disappear.

The government might be waiting (and hoping) for better GDP figures in three months’ time, but workers will be likely waiting for longer than that for any improvement in their wages.

• Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia