Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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This section presents statistics on industrial disputes involving the loss of ten working days or more at the establishments where stoppages occurred. Working days lost refers to working days lost by workers directly or indirectly involved in disputes at those establishments.

The number of working days lost per year, and the number of employees involved, have fluctuated from year to year, but have demonstrated a significant downward trend over the last two decades (graph 6.48). The number of working days lost in 2000 was 469,100, a decrease of over 28% on the 1999 outcome. Over the same period the total number of employees involved in industrial disputes (either directly or indirectly) decreased by almost 30% (table 6.49).

6.49 NUMBER OF DISPUTES AND EMPLOYEES INVOLVED
	Disputes			Employees involved
Year	Commenced in year no.	Total no.		Newly involved(a) ’000	Total ’000	Working days lost ’000
1995	635	643		335.4	344.3	547.6
1996	539	543		575.9	577.7	928.5
1997	444	447		315.0	315.4	534.2
1998	516	519		347.8	348.4	526.3
1999	727	731		460.7	461.1	650.5
2000	686	698		324.4	325.4	469.1
(a) Comprises workers involved in disputes which commenced during the year and additional workers involved in disputes which continued from the previous year.
Source: Industrial Disputes, Australia (6321.0).

6.50 WORKING DAYS LOST, By Industry(a)
Industry	1995 ’000	1996 ’000	1997 ’000	1998 ’000	1999 ’000	2000 ’000
Mining -
-Coal	111.1	160.8	95.7	60.4	26.0	37.3
-Other	78.0	4.4	1.1	1.4	2.0	3.8
Manufacturing -
-Metal products; Machinery and equipment	54.8	58.6	76.9	27.5	104.3	68.2
-Other	105.1	44.8	68.7	67.7	80.3	78.0
Construction	42.7	334.8	107.8	210.9	165.1	108.8
Transport and storage; Communication services	38.6	20.4	47.7	52.8	20.3	26.2
Education; Health and community services	70.9	239.8	94.0	75.8	224.1	110.1
Other industries(b)	46.3	64.9	42.1	29.8	28.4	36.6
All industries	547.6	928.5	534.2	526.3	650.5	469.1
(a) Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). (b) Includes: Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Electricity, gas and water supply; Wholesale trade; Retail trade; Accommodation, cafes and restaurants; Finance and insurance; Property and business services; Government administration and defence; Cultural and recreational services; and Personal and other services.
Source: Industrial Disputes, Australia (6321.0).

There were 61 working days lost per thousand employees in 2000, compared to 87 working days lost per thousand employees in 1999 (graph 6.51). This fall was due to large falls in NSW (down 62 working days lost per thousand employees) and Victoria (down 45). Victoria (71 working days lost per thousand employees), Western Australia (68), NSW (64) and Queensland (64) recorded the highest number of working days lost per thousand employees in 2000, while Tasmania (7), the Northern Territory (9) and the ACT (9) recorded the lowest number of working days lost per thousand employees.