RECENTLY RELEASED BUSINESS SURVEYS ON LABOUR TOPICS
Business surveys are the primary source of data on earnings, jobs and job vacancies, all of which provide insight into the demand for labour in the Australian labour market. A number of surveys have regular quarterly releases, such as Average Weekly Earnings, Job Vacancies and Industrial Disputes. Occasionally other releases from business surveys also occur, and recently a Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) from the Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours has been released. Details about this release are described below.
There has also been some enhancements to the Average Weekly Earnings series, and some future changes to this survey are planned. See below for more details.
RELEASE OF CONFIDENTIALISED UNIT RECORD FILE: SURVEY OF EMPLOYEE EARNINGS AND HOURS
The 2010 Employee Earnings and Hours (EEH) expanded CURF (cat. no. 6306.0.55.001) was released on 29 September 2011 on the ABS website <https://www.abs.gov.au>. The CURF is accessible through the ABS Remote Data Access Laboratory (RADL) and the ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL). The EEH survey produces estimates of the composition and distribution of employee earnings, the hours for which they are paid, and the methods used to set their pay (i.e. award only, collective agreement, or individual arrangement). EEH is the only ABS source of information on methods of setting pay.
Some of the key data items on the EEH CURF include:
- Weekly earnings - Ordinary time, Overtime, Amounts salary sacrificed, and Total earnings (available as continuous variables);
- Hours paid for - Ordinary time, Overtime, and Total hours paid for (available as continuous variables);
- Methods of setting pay;
- Employee characteristics - e.g. Sex, Full-time/Part-time status, Managerial status, Occupation (available at the 1, 2, and 3 digit ANZSCO level), Type of employee (Permanent, Fixed-term, Casual);
- Business characteristics - Industry (1 digit ANZSIC level), and Employer unit size (under 20 employees, or 20 or more employees); and
- Jurisdictional information - Jurisdictional coverage of pay-setting arrangements and Jurisdiction of registered agreement.
The
Technical Manual: Employee Earnings and Hours, CURF, Australia (cat. no. 6306.0.55.002) explains the data content, technical details and conditions of use and should be used in conjunction with the CURF. An Excel spreadsheet listing all the data items available on the CURF accompanies the Technical Manual.
RELEASE OF AVERAGE WEEKLY CASH EARNINGS SERIES
The average weekly cash earnings series inclusive of salary sacrifice was released on 18 August 2011 in
Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, May 2011 (cat. no. 6302.0) and is available on the ABS Website Downloads tab of this release, under the data cubes heading. An information paper titled
Information Paper: Release of Average Weekly Cash Earnings Series (cat. no. 6302.0.55.003) was released on 21 July 2011 outlining the background to the series, the classifications and time periods to be released, and where to find the data on the website.
FREQUENCY CHANGE OF AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS
The frequency of the average weekly earnings series will change from quarterly to biannual in 2012. It is intended that the May 2012 publication will be the last quarterly issue and the November 2012 publication the first produced on a biannual basis. From 2013 onwards, AWE data will be produced twice a year relating to May and November. This was first advised to users in the May 2011 issue of
Average Weekly Earnings (cat. no. 6302.0), providing a fifteen month notice period to ensure AWE users have sufficient notice of the change.
If you would like further information about the forthcoming changes to Average Weekly Earnings statistics please contact the Manager, Survey of Average Weekly Earnings on Perth (08) 9360 5304.
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