GLOSSARY
Adult employees
Employees who are 21 years of age or over, and employees under 21 years old who are paid at the full adult rate for their occupation.
Average (mean) earnings
The amount obtained by dividing the total earnings of a group (e.g. full-time employees) by the number of employees in that group.
Award only
Awards are legally enforceable determinations made by federal or state industrial tribunals that set the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions) usually in a particular industry or occupation. Awards may be the sole mechanism used to set the pay and/or conditions for an employee or group of employees, or alternatively may be used in conjunction with an individual or collective agreement.
Employees are classified to the Award only category if they are paid at the rate of pay specified in the Award and are not paid more than that rate of pay.
Casual employees
Casual employees usually receive a higher rate of pay, to compensate for lack of permanency and leave entitlements.
Collective agreement
An agreement between an employer (or group of employers) and a group of employees (or one or more unions or employee associations representing the employees). A collective agreement sets the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions) for a group of employees, and is usually registered with a Federal or state industrial tribunal or authority.
Employees are classified to the Collective agreement category if they had the main part of their pay set by a registered or unregistered collective agreement or enterprise award.
Employees
Persons who worked for a private or public employer and received pay for the reference period in the form of wages or salaries, a commission while also receiving a retainer, tips, piece rates or payment in kind. Persons who operated their own incorporated business with or without hiring employees were also included as employees.
Employer size
A measure of the size of the business in terms of the number of employees within that business. The employer size reflects the size of the business in a particular state or territory and not necessarily the size of the business Australia-wide.
Full-time employees
Employees who normally work the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as full-time if they usually work 35 hours or more per week.
Individual arrangement
An arrangement between an employer and an individual employee on the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions) for the employee. Common types of individual arrangements are individual contracts, letters of offer and common law contracts. An individual contract (or letter of offer) may specify all terms of employment, or alternatively may reference an award for some conditions and/or in the setting of pay (e.g. overaward payments). Individual contracts may also be registered with a Federal or state industrial tribunal or authority (e.g. as an Australian Workplace Agreement). Working proprietors of incorporated businesses are regarded as having their pay set by individual arrangements, and are identified separately within the individual arrangement category.
Employees are classified to the Individual arrangement category if they have the main part of their pay set by an individual contract, registered individual agreement (e.g. Australian Workplace Agreement), common law contract, or if they receive overaward payments by individual agreement.
Industry
Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).
Junior employees
Employees who are under 21 years of age and are not paid at the full adult rate for their occupation.
Jurisdiction
The federal or state industrial tribunal or authority with which written individual or collective agreements have been certified, approved or registered. Estimates have been compiled based on the workplace relations environment prior to the introduction of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 which came into effect in March 2006. Employees based in the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria are covered by the federal jurisdiction. Employees based in other states may be covered by either the federal or state jurisdiction depending on circumstances that prevail in the workplace.
Managerial employees
Employees who are in charge of a significant number of employees and/or have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation, and usually do not have an entitlement to paid overtime. Includes professionally qualified staff who primarily perform managerial tasks in conjunction with utilising their professional skills. Working proprietors and working directors of their own incorporated businesses are regarded as managerial employees.
Median earnings
The amount of earnings which divides employees into two groups containing equal numbers of employees, one half with earnings below the median and the other half with earnings above the median.
Method of setting pay
How the main part of an employee's pay is set. Employees are classified to one of the following categories: Award only; Collective agreement; or Individual arrangement. Employees classified to the Collective agreement or Individual arrangement categories are further classified according to whether the agreement is registered with a Federal or state industrial tribunal or authority.
Non-managerial employees
Employees who are not managerial employees (as defined above) including non-managerial professionals and some employees with supervisory responsibilities.
Occupation
Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition (cat. no. 1220.0).
Ordinary time cash earnings
Payment for award, standard or agreed hours of work, including allowances, penalty payments, payments by measured result and regular bonuses and commissions. Amounts salary sacrificed are also included. Excluded are non-cash components of salary packages, overtime payments, retrospective pay, pay in advance, leave loadings, severance pay, and termination and redundancy payments. See conceptual framework for measures of employee remuneration in Appendix 1.
Ordinary time hours paid for
Award, standard or agreed hours of work, paid for at the ordinary time rate. Included are stand-by or reporting time which are part of standard hours of work, and that part of annual leave, paid sick leave and long service leave taken during the reference period. Ordinary time hours paid for was not collected for managerial employees.
Overtime cash earnings
Payment for hours worked in excess of award, standard or agreed hours of work.
Overtime hours paid for
Hours paid for in excess of award, standard or agreed hours of work. Overtime hours paid for was not collected for managerial employees.
Part-time employees
Employees who normally work less than the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as part-time if they usually work less than 35 hours per week.
Percentile
Any of a hundred divisions of an earnings or hours distribution. For example:
- 25% of employees earn less than or equal to the 25th percentile
- 75% of employees earn less than or equal to the 75th percentile.
Permanent or fixed term employees
Permanent employees are usually employed on an ongoing basis and are entitled to paid annual and sick leave. Fixed term employees are employed for a specified period of employment, and may be entitled to paid leave.
Reference period
The survey refers to the last pay period ending on or before 19 May 2006. All estimates of earnings and hours in this publication are weekly, therefore, for employees paid other than weekly, estimates of earnings and hours have been converted to a weekly basis.
Salary sacrifice
An arrangement under which an employee agrees contractually to forgo part of the remuneration, which the employee would otherwise receive as wages and salaries, in return for the employer or someone associated with the employer providing benefits of a similar value (Australian Taxation Office).
Sector
Public sector comprises local government authorities and all government departments and agencies created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth, or state/territory parliaments. The private sector comprises all organisations not classified as public sector.
Total hours paid for
Equal to ordinary time hours paid for plus overtime hours paid for. Total hours paid for was not collected for managerial employees.
Weekly total cash earnings
Weekly total cash earnings of employees is regular wages and salaries in cash and is equal to weekly ordinary time cash earnings plus weekly overtime cash earnings.
Working proprietor of an incorporated business
A working proprietor of an incorporated business is considered to be an employee of their own business. As working proprietors of incorporated businesses differ from other employees in having the power to determine their own pay and working hours (subject to the earnings of the business and other factors), they are separately identified within the individual arrangement category.
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