The former UK prime minister is one of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's political idols.

Dr Chalmers will use his post-budget address to the National Press Club on Wednesday to slam the government's record on jobs and wages, saying it has racked up $1 trillion in debt with little to show for it.

He says under the coalition government there has been eight years of wage stagnation, with growth the weakest on record, and the budget showing there will be a cut to real wages growth over the next four years.

That is, wages will grow slower than the rate of inflation.

"The real wage cut for workers is this government's act of bastardry and betrayal. This is the thanks this government gives to the workers who carried our economy through last year's crisis," Dr Chalmers will say.

"Josh Frydenberg has claimed Margaret Thatcher as his political inspiration. She'd be mighty proud of his record on wages."

He also questions the treasurer's change of fiscal strategy within a few months.

Before the delayed October budget, Mr Frydenberg said budget repair would commence when the unemployment rate was below six per cent.

Now the process will begin when it is below five per cent.

The unemployment rate currently sits at 5.6 per cent having been 5.1 per cent before the pandemic.

"So for all the spin and speechifying about a bold new approach, essentially the government's fiscal strategy is barely more ambitious on jobs than it was last year," Dr Chalmers will say.

He said Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe was saying full employment should have at least a four in front of it back in 2019.

"It shouldn't have taken a pandemic for the government to realise that its fiscal and jobs strategy was broken."

Australian Associated Press