Weekly Earnings of Employees (Distribution)

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW

The Weekly Earnings of Employees (Distribution) topic is collected as part of the Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership survey and measures the distribution of employees' weekly earnings. Information is collected from persons who were employees (wage and salary earners) in their main job.

PURPOSE

This survey provides information on the weekly earnings of employees in their main job aged 15 and over. Although similar data is available from other sources (e.g. surveys of employers), the essential cross classification data collected in this survey from persons interviewed at their dwelling can only be obtained from this source. This survey is a primary source for information on the distribution of earnings.

SCOPE

This survey is conducted as part of the Monthly Population Survey, which comprises the Labour Force Survey and, in most months, a supplementary survey topic.

SCOPE - Labour Force Survey

The Labour Force Survey includes all persons aged 15 and over except:

• members of the permanent defence forces;
• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
• overseas residents in Australia; and
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.

From July 1993 Jervis Bay Territory is also excluded from the scope of the survey. Before July 1993 it was included in estimates for the Australian Capital Territory.

SCOPE -

Weekly Earnings of Employees (Distribution):

The scope of this survey was the same as that used for the Labour Force Survey (above), except that it was restricted to employees aged 15 or more unless they worked solely for payment in kind in their main job. Also were excluded were students at boarding schools, patients in hospitals, residents of homes (e.g. retirement homes, homes for the handicapped), and inmates of prisons are further excluded from this supplementary survey.

From July 1997, all supplementary surveys excluded persons in remote and sparsely settled areas of Australia. The exclusion of these persons has only a minor effect on estimates for individual States or Territories.

COVERAGE - Labour Force Survey

In the Labour Force Survey, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

Persons who are away from their usual residence for six weeks or less at the time of interview are enumerated at their usual residence (relevant information may be obtained from other usual residents present at the time of the survey).

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework

The Weekly Earnings of Employees (Distribution) topic provides statistics on distribution of earnings of employees classified by characteristics such as marital status, sex, age and whether the earnings came from the main job or a second job.

Main outputs

Results of the Weekly Earnings of Employees (Distribution) survey including tables and analysis are released as part of the Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership Publication:

Tables -

Weekly earnings of employees in all jobs

• Mean weekly earnings of full-time and part-time workers by State or Territory of usual residence, time series
• Full-time and part-time workers by sex
• Full-time and part-time workers by relationship in household

Weekly earnings of employees in main job

• Mean weekly earnings of full-time and part-time employees by selected characteristics
• Full-time and part-time employees by selected characteristics
• Hours paid by sex
• Full-time and part-time employees by permanent and casual status
• Full-time and total employees by occupation and sector
• Full-time and total employees by industry

Weekly earnings of full-time employees in main job

• Age
• Location

Weekly earnings of multiple jobholders

• Weekly earnings in main job and second job by sex

Standard employment benefits

• Benefits received by selected characteristics
• Source of superannuation coverage by industry and weekly earnings

Trade union membership

• Full-time and part-time employees by selected characteristics

Populations

• State or Territory of usual residence
• Mean weekly earnings by State or Territory of usual residence

Demographics: State, Area, Region, Sex, Marital Status, Relationship in Household, Period of Arrival and Age.

Country of Birth: The Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC).

Occupation: Australian Standard Classification of Occupations Second Edition (ASCO SE).

Industry: Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

Other concepts (summary)

Not applicable

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Tasmania
Northern Territory
ACT
Part of State Metropolitan
Part of State Extra-Metropolitan

Comments and/or Other Regions

Not all data available for all areas.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
Other

Frequency comments

Topic collected annually since 1975.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Annually since August 1975

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes

Data availability comments