APPENDIX



1 This appendix outlines the changes that have been made to the data included in the Wage and Salary Earner Statistics for Small Areas series from the release of 2006-07 data. It provides a comparison between the current data and previously released data in Regional Wage and Salary Earners, Australia to illustrate the impact of these changes. The changes that have been made to the series are:

• change from 'main source of income' to all persons receiving income from Wages and salaries; and
• the definition of Wage and salary income (described below).

2 Users should exercise caution in comparing Wage and salary data for 2003-04 to 2005-06 that is contained in previous issues of this release.


Definition of Wages and salaries

3 There has been a change in the definition of Wage and salary earners in this issue, with the inclusion for the first time of Lump sums and Eligible termination payments. This change has been made to align with the changed definition of Wage and salary income in the ABS income standards. For more information on income standards, refer to the Explanatory Notes of Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2007-08 (cat. no. 6523.0).


Effects of changes

4 Table 1 compares previously published Wage and salary earners (main source of income) data to the current data for the years 2003-04 to 2005-06. At the Australia level, the changes to the series have resulted in an increase of almost 10% in the number of individuals receiving Wage and salary income, a 4% increase in total Wage and salary income, and around a 5% reduction in average Wage and salary income in each reference year.

Table 1. Comparison of Wage and salary data, current release and previous release
	Number of Persons				Wage and salary income ($m)				Average Wage and salary income ($)
Year	Current	Previous	Difference	%	Current	Previous	Difference	%	Current	Previous	Difference	%
2005-06	9 050 233	8 245 642	804 591	9.8	364 504.9	348 382.4	16 122.5	4.6	40 276	42 250	-1 974	-4.7
2004-05	8 821 514	8 045 667	775 847	9.6	340 570.9	326 536.1	14 034.8	4.3	38 607	40 585	-1 978	-4.9
2003-04	8 591 299	7 831 856	759 443	9.7	316 924.6	304 034.8	12 889.8	4.2	36 889	38 820	-1 931	-5.0

5 Users should not assume that all differences between the two series shown in Table 1 at Australia level are consistent across all states and territories and smaller regions.