Strong growth in average weekly earnings
Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults was $1,888.80 in November 2023, according to new seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “The annual increase of 4.5 per cent, or $81 a week, was the strongest since May 2013, other than a brief spike in average earnings early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The recent rise in average earnings reflects strong wage growth, with the Wage Price Index rising by 4.2 per cent in the year to December quarter 2023. This was the highest annual increase in underlying wage growth since March quarter 2009.
“Average earnings growth was supported by increases in both the private sector, which rose by 4.4 per cent, and public sector, up by 4.9 per cent.
"The gender pay gap in average weekly ordinary full-time earnings, the most commonly cited of the gender pay gap measures, narrowed to 12.0 per cent, down from 13.0 per cent in May 2023 and the lowest level on record.
“This was the third drop in the gender pay gap in a row, down to a new record low. This narrowing in the gap reflected stronger growth in average full-time earnings for women, 3.5 per cent over the past six months, compared with 2.3 per cent for men. Annual growth was also more pronounced for women at 5.5 per cent, compared with 4.0 per cent for men.”
Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time workers was highest in Western Australia ($2,108) and the Australian Capital Territory ($2,080), and lowest in Tasmania ($1,670) and South Australia ($1,735).
Workers in the Mining industry remained the highest paid on average, at $2,952 a week for full-time employees. This was followed by those in Information media and telecommunications ($2,406) and Professional, scientific and technical services ($2,223).
The lowest paid full-time workers on average were in the Accommodation and food services ($1,397) and Retail trade ($1,435) industries.
Average earnings for part-time employees also saw strong growth over the past year, reflected in average earnings for all employees rising by 3.9 per cent in November 2023.
“The gender pay gap for all employees, including both full-time and part-time employees, is much larger than the full-time measure, with women more likely to work part-time. That record-low gap was 28.1 per cent in November 2023, down from 28.6 per cent in May 2023,” Mr Jarvis said.
As well as weekly earnings insights, the ABS also recently released 2023 data on hourly earnings, including the gender gap in hourly earnings, in Employee Earning and Hours.
The ABS would like to thank businesses in Australia for their continued support in responding to our surveys.
Media notes
- Percentage movements in average weekly earnings can be affected by changes in both the level of earnings per employee and in the composition of employment. Factors that can contribute to compositional change include variations in the proportion of full-time, part-time, casual and junior employees; variations in the occupational distribution within and across industries; and variations in the distribution of employment between industries.
- These statistics provide insights into weekly earnings for males and females, including information by industry, sector, and state/territory of work. They are one of the best sources of information for measuring weekly earnings differences between males and females in Australia, and complement a range of other related statistics produced by the ABS (e.g. Employee Earnings and Hours and Characteristics of Employment) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
- An alternative source for estimates of movements in earnings (wages growth) is the quarterly Wage Price Index (WPI). Unlike AWE, the WPI is designed to measure the change over time in the price of wages and salaries (i.e. a pure price change, unaffected by the changes in the quality or quantity of work performed or the composition of the workforce.)
- Estimates of percentage change have been calculated using unrounded estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from calculating percentage changes using the rounded estimates presented in this publication.
- Data in this media release refer to seasonally adjusted data for all series excluding industry data, which are original estimates.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
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