Wages and salaries reach seasonal peak of $108.8 billion

Media Release

Released

19/11/2025

Source

Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator, September 2025

Release date and time

19/11/2025 11:30am AEDT

Total wages and salaries paid by employers were $108.8 billion in September 2025, up 5.3 per cent from September 2024, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: ‘The total wages and salaries paid by employers rose by $5.3 billion in the three months from June 2025. This repeats the seasonal pattern we’ve seen in previous years as some industries pay bonuses in September.

‘Annual growth in total wages and salaries to September 2025 was 5.3 per cent, lower than the annual growth to September 2024 of 6.1 per cent.’

Total wages and salaries paid by employers, original
	2022 ($b)	2023 ($b)	2024 ($b)	2025 ($b)
January		86.3	92.5	97.9
February		91.5	96.8	103.4
March		92.5	99.0	104.4
April		91.2	97.6	103.0
May		91.0	96.8	102.1
June		92.6	98.2	103.4
July	85.8	92.0	98.1	103.5
August	87.3	93.8	99.5	104.9
September	90.5	97.3	103.3	108.8
October	87.6	94.4	99.9
November	89.8	97.0	102.1
December	89.6	96.2	101.4

Total wages and salaries paid by employers, original

["","2022","2023","2024","2025"]

[["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],[[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[85.8],[87.3],[90.5],[87.6],[89.8],[89.6]],[[86.3],[91.5],[92.5],[91.2],[91],[92.6],[92],[93.8],[97.3],[94.4],[97],[96.2]],[[92.5],[96.8],[99],[97.6],[96.8],[98.2],[98.1],[99.5],[103.3],[99.9],[102.1],[101.4]],[[97.9],[103.4],[104.4],[103],[102.1],[103.4],[103.5],[104.9],[108.8],[null],[null],[null]]]

[]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"","table_units":"","axis_min":null,"axis_max":null,"tick_interval":null,"precision":"-1","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"$billion","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"($b)","table_units":"($b)","axis_min":"80","axis_max":"110","tick_interval":"10","precision":"1","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

Seasonal bonuses drive wages peak in September 2025

All 19 industries saw a rise in total wages and salaries paid by employers between August and September 2025, with the strongest rises coming from five industries that pay periodic bonuses in September – Mining, Electricity, gas, water and waste services, Retail trade, Information media and telecommunications, and Financial and insurance services.

Together, these five industries accounted for over half of the month rise in wages and salaries to September 2025 (57 per cent or $2.2 billion), despite representing less than one quarter of the total wages and salaries paid.

Except for Retail trade, these industries also pay periodic bonuses around February and March.

Month change in wages and salaries paid by employers, by selected industries (a)
	Financial and insurance services ($m)	Retail trade ($m)	Information media and telecommunications ($m)	Mining ($m)	Electricity, gas, water and waste services ($m)
Sep-24	809.3	508.3	303.6	295.6	163.5
Oct-24	-833.2	-405.2	-468.7	-479.8	-127.3
Nov-24	280.1	148.7	87.9	19.9	-18.5
Dec-24	83.6	120.5	-88.9	42.6	10.6
Jan-25	-369.0	-286.8	35.1	-33.3	-31.3
Feb-25	471.3	64.0	190.4	432.4	104.5
Mar-25	208.1	22.8	-43.7	287.5	58.6
Apr-25	-501.3	-4.8	-89.6	-599.3	-37.8
May-25	20.9	-176.2	-14.3	-98.9	-16.2
Jun-25	44.6	122.6	57.4	33.7	-0.9
Jul-25	-18.8	22.8	-41.1	27.2	-1.1
Aug-25	117.7	48.5	121.1	241.1	17.2
Sep-25	838.7	519.7	325.4	295.7	181.7

Month change in wages and salaries paid by employers, by selected industries (a)

["","Financial and insurance services","Retail trade","Information media and telecommunications","Mining","Electricity, gas, water and waste services"]

[["Sep-24","Oct-24","Nov-24","Dec-24","Jan-25","Feb-25","Mar-25","Apr-25","May-25","Jun-25","Jul-25","Aug-25","Sep-25"],[[809.3],[-833.2],[280.1],[83.6],[-369],[471.3],[208.1],[-501.3],[20.9],[44.6],[-18.8],[117.7],[838.7]],[[508.3],[-405.2],[148.7],[120.5],[-286.8],[64],[22.8],[-4.8],[-176.2],[122.6],[22.8],[48.5],[519.7]],[[303.6],[-468.7],[87.9],[-88.9],[35.1],[190.4],[-43.7],[-89.6],[-14.3],[57.4],[-41.1],[121.1],[325.4]],[[295.6],[-479.8],[19.9],[42.6],[-33.3],[432.4],[287.5],[-599.3],[-98.9],[33.7],[27.2],[241.1],[295.7]],[[163.5],[-127.3],[-18.5],[10.6],[-31.3],[104.5],[58.6],[-37.8],[-16.2],[-0.9],[-1.1],[17.2],[181.7]]]

[]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"","table_units":"","axis_min":null,"axis_max":null,"tick_interval":null,"precision":"-1","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"$million","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"($m)","table_units":"($m)","axis_min":"-2500","axis_max":"2500","tick_interval":"500","precision":"1","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

Change values represent the month-on-month difference in wages and salaries for the selected industries.

Media notes

All estimates in this release are calendar-adjusted enabling the comparisons of monthly data. However, these estimates are not yet seasonally adjusted, which generally requires at least three years of reasonably stable data. The longstanding seasonally adjusted Labour Force statistics series can aid in the interpretation of labour statistics across periods of greater seasonality.
As an aggregate measure of total wages and salaries, estimates capture a mix of compositional changes in the labour market which can’t be separated. This includes pay rises, periodic payments, variations in hours paid and changes in employment. It complements but is different to the measure of underlying wage growth reported in the ABS’ Wage Price Index.
To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our guide to Labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment and Earnings data.
The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the ATO in enabling the ABS to produce insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.
When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) must be attributed as the source.
Access official, high-resolution images of ABS media spokespeople, from our image library.
For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team on 1300 175 070 or media@abs.gov.au (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday AEST).
Watch our data crash course, designed especially for journalists to learn how to find, download and interpret our data.
Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.

APA

Citation

Wages and salaries reach seasonal peak of $108.8 billion

APA

Citation

Seasonal bonuses drive wages peak in September 2025

Media notes

Provide feedback