6302.0 - Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, Nov 2017 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/02/2018   
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AVERAGE WEEKLY CASH EARNINGS


Commentary in the other sections of this release relates exclusively to estimates of employee earnings excluding amounts salary sacrificed. This section includes information on Average Weekly Cash Earnings (AWCE), which provides estimates of employee earnings including amounts salary sacrificed.

Salary sacrifice is defined as an arrangement where an employee agrees to forgo part of his or her salary in return for benefits of a similar value. Common types of salary sacrifice arrangements include pre-tax contributions to superannuation funds and novated leases for motor vehicles.

Graph Image for Average Weekly Ordinary Time Cash Earnings, Full Time Adults, Original


In November 2017, on average, full-time adult employees in Australia salary sacrificed $45.70 (Full-time adult ordinary time cash earnings $1,615.30 minus Full-time adult ordinary time earnings $1,569.60). This is a decrease of $5.20 from May 2017.

Amounts salary sacrificed by an employee can be affected by a change in his or her earnings (for example, an increase in the level of overtime worked or commissions earned). Additionally, some employees sacrifice more of their salary at the beginning of the financial year and then the amount tapers off towards the end of the year when he or she has reached the concessional contributions cap for salary sacrificing superannuation. For other employees, the amount of salary sacrificed increases towards the end of the financial year to ensure the cap is reached. A feature article examining Salary Sacrifice arrangements of Australian employees was published in the November 2012 AWE release.

For further earnings information related to Average Weekly Cash Earnings, please refer to the time series spreadsheets in the following link or click on the downloads tab at the top of the page.