1350.0.55.001 - Australian Economic Indicators Glossary, 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 31/07/2007  Reissue
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

A

X
Z




Wage cost index (WCI)Previous name for the wage price index.
Reference: Labour Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods. cat. no. 6351.0.55.001.

Wage price indexesMeasure changes in the price of wage costs. The four wage price indexes include; ordinary time hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, ordinary time hourly rates of pay including bonuses, total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, and total hourly rates of pay including bonuses.
Reference: Labour Price Index, Australia. cat. no. 6345.0.

Wages and salariesWages and salaries payable in cash include the value of any social contributions, income taxes, etc., payable by the employee even if they are actually withheld by the employer for administrative convenience or other reasons and paid directly to social insurance schemes, tax authorities, etc., on behalf of the employee. Wages and salaries may be paid as remuneration in kind instead of, or in addition to, remuneration in cash. Separation, termination and redundancy payments are also included in wages and salaries. Wages and salaries are also measured as far as possible on an accrual rather than a strict cash basis. See also Employees’ social contributions; Compensation of employees.
Reference: Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. cat. no. 5206.0.

Weekly ordinary time earningsOne week's earnings of employees for the reference period attributable to award, standard or agreed hours of work, calculated before taxation and any other deductions (e.g. superannuation, board and lodging) have been made. Included are piecework payments and one week's portion of regular production and task bonuses and commissions. Excluded are overtime payments and payments not related to the reference period, e.g. bonus payments for earlier periods of work.
Reference: Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. cat. no. 6302.0.

Weekly total earningsWeekly total earnings of employees is equal to weekly ordinary time earnings plus weekly overtime earnings.
Reference: Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. cat. no. 6302.0.

Weighting base periodThe period to which the fixed quantity weights relate. The weighting base period for the 14th series CPI is 1998-99. See also Reference base period.
Reference: Australian Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods. cat. no. 6461.0.

WeightThe measure of the relative importance of an item in the index regimen. Weights can be expressed in either quantity or value terms. Value weights are used in the CPI.
Reference: Australian Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods. cat. no. 6461.0.

Wholesale lendersA wholesale lender provides funds to borrowers through a retail intermediary which may then also be responsible for the ongoing relationship with the borrower. The Wholesale Lenders n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified) series almost exclusively comprises securitisation vehicles (typically special purpose trusts) established to issue mortgage backed securities. It excludes funds provided where a bank or permanent building society, acting as a wholesale provider of funds, remains the lender on the contract. Those commitments are published as bank or permanent building society commitments.
Reference: Housing Finance, Australia. cat. no. 5609.0.

Wholesale trustsWholesale trusts are not open to the general public. Usually they are only open to institutional investors (e.g. life insurance companies, superannuation trusts, public unit trusts) and high net worth individuals due to high entry levels. They may issue a prospectus but more commonly issue only an information memorandum.
Reference: Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts. cat. no. 5232.0.

Working days lostRefers to working days lost by employees directly and indirectly involved in the dispute.
Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia. cat. no. 6321.0.55.001.

Working days lost per thousand employeesWorking days lost per thousand employees are calculated for a quarterly period by dividing the total number of working days lost in the period by the total number of employees in the Australian labour force in the period (obtained from the ABS Labour Force Survey) and multiplying by 1,000. Labour Force Survey employee estimates are revised every 5 years as a result of the implementation of new population benchmarks from the Census of Population and Housing. As a result, estimates of working days lost per thousand employees are also subject to revision.
Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia. cat. no. 6321.0.55.001.