6305.0 - Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, Preliminary, May 1998  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/12/1998   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All
  • About this Release
  • Almost 1 employee in 8 earns $1000 or more per week - ABS (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

December 10, 1998
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
135/1998

Almost 1 employee in 8 earns $1000 or more per week - ABS

About 12% of employees earned $1,000 or more per week in May 1998, according to preliminary figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This compares to about 1 in 10 employees in May 1996.

While about 20% of male employees earned $1,000 or more per week, only 4% of female employees reached this level of earnings.

Average weekly total earnings of employees was $609.10 in May 1998, with 25% of employees earning more than $797 and another 25% earning $351 or less.

Full-time adult non-managerial employees, who make up the majority of employees, received average weekly total earnings of $738.60, 8.1% higher than the average in May 1996. This included an average $46.60 per week for overtime.

These employees were paid for an average of 39.8 hours per week, with 1.7 hours of this being paid overtime.

Male full-time adult non-managerial employees recorded higher average hours of paid work per week (40.8 hours) than female employees (38.3 hours), due mainly to more overtime worked. They also received higher average weekly total earnings of $792.50, compared with females ($657.80).

Other points of interest were:
  • Average weekly earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees ranged from $550.10 in the Accommodation, cafes and restaurants industry to $1,241.40 in the Mining industry.
  • Managers and administrators was the highest paid employees, with full-time adults receiving an average of $1,223.80 per week. Professionals were the next highest paid, receiving an average $932.50 per week.
  • The lowest paid occupation groups were Elementary clerical, sales and service workers, with full-time adult employees receiving an average $566.60, and Labourers and related workers, who received an average of $601.60.

Details are in Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, Preliminary, May 1998 (cat. no. 6305.0) which is available from ABS bookshops. Main features from the publication can be found on this site. Final figures will be published in March 1999.