CONVERTING A SERIES TO THE NEW REFERENCE BASE

The conversion of series from the old base to the new base also involves a rescaling of the index numbers. The conversion factor that should be applied to the index numbers is calculated by obtaining the ratio of the index numbers on the old and new bases for the new reference period.

The conversion factor is calculated using the unrounded index number for the 2003-04 financial year. The calculation of financial year indexes is outlined in paragraph 33 of the Explanatory Notes.

For example, for the total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses index for Australia, an arithmetic conversion factor is obtained as follows:
Index number for year 2003-04 (on base September quarter 1997 = 100.0) is 123.075
Index number for year 2003-04 (on base 2003-04 = 100.0) is 100.0
Conversion factor 100/123.075 = 0.8125

The factor 0.8125 may be multiplied by any total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses index number for Australia on the old reference base to give the corresponding number on the new reference base. The procedure shown in the above example may be followed in respect of any specific index series for which index numbers have been published on the old reference base.

ROUNDING

Index numbers and percentage changes are always published to one decimal place, with the percentage changes being calculated from the rounded index numbers. Index numbers for periods longer than a single quarter (e.g. for financial years) are calculated as the simple arithmetic average of the relevant rounded quarterly index numbers. The conversion factor described above is applied to the rounded index numbers.

A consequence of re-referencing price indexes can be that period to period percentage changes calculated using re-referenced index number series may differ slightly from those calculated using the original series. These differences do not constitute a revision of the index but simply reflect the effect of rounding.

CONVERTING THE RE-REFERENCED SERIES BACK TO THE PREVIOUS BASE

The conversion of series from the new base to the old base involves a rescaling of the index numbers. The rescaling factor is obtained by taking the inverse of the previously described scaling factor.

For example, for the total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses index for Australia, the rescaling factor is obtained as follows:
Index number for year 2003-04 (on base September quarter 1997 = 100.0) is 123.075
Index number for year 2003-04 (on base 2003-04 = 100.0) is 100.0
Conversion factor 123.075/100 = 1.2308

The factor 1.2308 may be multiplied by any total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses index number for Australia on the new reference base to give the corresponding number on the old reference base.

Conversion factors for most of the published total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses indexes are provided in table A2. Additional factors can be obtained using the formulas above or by contacting Tim Landrigan on Perth (08) 9360 5151.

CONVERSION FACTORS

A2 Factors used to convert index numbers, From old reference base (September quarter 1997 = 100.0) to new (2003-04 = 100.0)
		Private	Public	All sectors
Australia		0.8175	0.7976	0.8125
Sector by state/territory
	New South Wales	0.8130	0.7765	0.8047
	Victoria	0.8167	0.8092	0.8152
	Queensland	0.8263	0.8010	0.8193
	South Australia	0.8168	0.7992	0.8119
	Western Australia	0.8155	0.8187	0.8165
	Tasmania	0.8365	0.8225	0.8319
	Northern Territory	0.8412	0.8132	0.8299
	Australian Capital Territory	0.8165	0.8168	0.8172
Sector by industry(a)
	Mining	0.8273	. .	0.8268
	Manufacturing	0.8078	. .	0.8079
	Electricity, gas and water supply	0.7949	. .	0.7803
	Construction	0.7979	. .	0.7982
	Wholesale trade	0.8304	. .	0.8304
	Retail trade	0.8457	. .	0.8455
	Accommodation, cafes and restaurants	0.8386	. .	0.8391
	Transport and storage	0.8372	. .	0.8316
	Communication services	0.8203	. .	0.8229
	Finance and insurance	0.8003	. .	0.8013
	Property and business services	0.7981	. .	0.7981
	Government administration and defence	. .	0.8055	0.8055
	Education	0.8073	0.7908	0.7960
	Health and community services	0.8239	0.7837	0.8056
	Cultural and recreational services	0.8290	0.8175	0.8256
	Personal and other services	0.8389	0.7900	0.8158
Sector by occupation(b)
	Managers and administrators	0.8100	0.7998	0.8076
	Professionals	0.7998	0.7896	0.7959
	Associate professionals	0.8237	0.7971	0.8160
	Tradespersons	0.8187	0.7970	0.8157
	Advanced clerical and service workers	0.8266	0.7997	0.8229
	Intermediate clerical, sales and related workers	0.8256	0.8053	0.8205
	Intermediate producation and transport workers	0.8261	0.8066	0.8241
	Elementary clerical, sales and service workers	0.8395	0.8035	0.8321
	Labourers and related workers	0.8280	0.7981	0.8239
. . not applicable
(a) Classified according to Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).
(b) Classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Occupation (ASCO), Second Edition (cat. no. 1220.0).

A3 LPI and Non-wage Indexes(a), Sector
	Index Numbers(b)			Change from previous financial year (%)
	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2002-03	2003-04
Annual and Public Holiday Leave
Private	94.6	97.8	100.0	3.4	2.2
Public	93.0	96.6	100.0	3.9	3.5
All sectors	94.2	97.5	100.0	3.5	2.6
Superannuation
Private	85.1	96.6	100.0	13.5	3.5
Public	90.2	95.9	100.0	6.3	4.3
All sectors	86.2	96.4	100.0	11.8	3.7
Payroll Tax
Private	94.3	96.9	100.0	2.8	3.2
Public	94.5	96.5	100.0	2.1	3.6
All sectors	94.3	96.8	100.0	2.7	3.3
Workers' Compensation
Private	92.4	97.4	100.0	5.4	2.7
Public	89.5	94.3	100.0	5.4	6.0
All sectors	91.8	96.8	100.0	5.4	3.3
Labour Price Index Excluding Bonuses
Private	92.9	96.9	100.0	4.3	3.2
Public	92.2	95.8	100.0	3.9	4.4
All sectors	92.8	96.6	100.0	4.1	3.5
(a) Refer to paragraphs 4 and 5 of Explanatory Notes for a description of the indexes.
(b) Reference base of each index: 2003-04 = 100.0.