6248.0 - Wage and Salary Earners, Australia, Sep 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2002   
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Commonwealth government employees

Employees of all departments, agencies and authorities created by or reporting to the Commonwealth Parliament. Those bodies run jointly by the Commonwealth Government and State Governments are classified to Commonwealth.

Employer size

To derive estimates of employer size, each of the approximately 7,500 private sector employer units is allocated a size classification based on the number of employees actually reported for the middle month of the quarter. The size classification reflects the size of a business in each State or Territory and not necessarily the size of a business Australia wide.

Employer units

Employer units are the statistical units which make up the population from which the sample was drawn (see paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes).

Full-time employees

Permanent, temporary and casual employees who normally work the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation and who received pay for any part of the reference period. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as full-time if they ordinarily work 35 hours or more per week.

General government enterprises

Public sector enterprises mainly engaged in the production of goods and services, outside the normal market mechanisms, providing these goods and services to the general public. The cost of operations is often financed from public revenues (e.g. government departments).

Gross earnings

Payments to employees before tax and other items (such as superannuation) are deducted. They comprise amounts paid from interstate or overseas; ordinary time and overtime earnings; overaward payments; penalty payments, shift and other remunerative allowances; commissions and retainers; bonuses and similar payments; payments under incentive or piecework; payments under profit-sharing schemes; leave loadings; annual and long service leave payments; sick leave payments; advance and retrospective payments; salaries and fees paid to company directors, members of boards, committees, commissions, councils, etc.; amounts paid to employees on workers’ compensation who continue to be paid through the payroll; and severance, termination and redundancy payments.

Industry

Industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (see paragraphs 10-12 of the Explanatory Notes).

Institutional sector

Institutional sector is classified according to the Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (see paragraph 14 of the Explanatory Notes).

Local government employees

Employees of municipalities and shires and other local authorities created by or subject to the provisions of local government legislation, such as county councils in New South Wales.

Number of employees

All wage and salary earners who received pay for any part of the relevant pay period, including:

  • permanent, temporary, casual, managerial and executive employees;
  • part-time and casual employees who may have received pay for only a few hours during the reference period; and
  • employees on paid leave and those on workers' compensation who continue to be paid through the payroll.

Casual employees who work on an irregular basis and who were not paid for the relevant pay period, employees on leave without pay, on strike or stood down without pay for the whole of the pay period are excluded. Part-time employees Permanent, temporary and casual employees who are not classified as full-time employees as defined.

Public financial enterprises

Public sector enterprises actively involved in financial market transactions such as borrowing and lending. Excluded are those public bodies whose funds flow directly to or from general government revenue.

Public sector employees

Administrative employees and all other employees of Commonwealth, State and local government businesses and financial undertakings engaged in services and activities such as railways, road transport, banks, postal and telecommunications, education, radio, television, police, public works, factories, marketing authorities, hospitals and welfare institutions.

Public trading enterprises

Public sector enterprises predominantly engaged in the production of goods and services with an intention of maximising profits and financial returns with most operating costs being derived from trading activities.

Reference period for earnings

All pay periods which end within the quarter.

Reference period for the number of employees

The last pay period ending on or before the third Friday in each month.

Sector

Public sector includes local government authorities and all government departments, agencies and authorities created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth Parliament and State Parliaments. All remaining employees are classified as private sector.

State government employees

Employees of all State government departments and authorities created by, or reporting to, State Parliaments, including organisations for which the Commonwealth has assumed financial responsibility. Following self-government, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory administrations have been classified to State Governments. Employees of State Governments employed interstate are included in the estimates of the State in which they are based.