| Average weekly total cash earnings ($) | Number of employees ('000) | Proportion of employees (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time males | 1,934.00 | 4,276.8 | 36.9 |
| Part-time males | 722.40 | 1,461.8 | 12.6 |
| All males | 1,625.40 | 5,738.6 | 49.6 |
| Full-time females | 1,675.90 | 2,644.2 | 22.8 |
| Part-time females | 745.80 | 3,195.9 | 27.6 |
| All females | 1,166.90 | 5,840.0 | 50.4 |
| Full-time persons | 1,835.40 | 6,921.0 | 59.8 |
| Part-time persons | 738.40 | 4,657.6 | 40.2 |
| All persons | 1,394.10 | 11,578.6 | 100.0 |
(a) May not sum to totals due to rounding
COVID-19 impacts on employees earnings and hours
The Employee Earnings and Hours survey was postponed from May 2020 to May 2021, due to the labour market impacts and disruption from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey reference period (the last pay period ending on or before 21 May 2021) fell prior to the delta outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Australia, at which point there were no lockdowns in place across Australia.
Survey responses remain high in May
Responses for the Employee Earnings and Hours May 2021 cycle remained high. The ABS would like to thank the Australian business community for their continued support in responding to our surveys during such a challenging time, given how critically important this information is.
Available populations
All employees
- Provides estimates based on every employee in scope for the survey. This covers both managerial (including owner managers of incorporated enterprises) and non-managerial employees.
- This population is useful for high level analysis of employee earnings and hours data by all major classifications.
Non-managerial employees
- Excludes owner mangers of incorporated enterprises and managerial employees who have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation and/or are in charge of a significant number of employees.
- This population has a direct link between employee earnings and hours paid for and can be used to analyse hourly rates.
Full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate
- Provides a relatively homogenous employee population.
- This population excludes part-time employees, managerial employees (including owner managers of incorporated enterprises) and those not paid at the adult rate. As a result, it removes many employees with unusually high or low earnings from the population of interest. Removing these extreme values can be useful when comparing pay rates between occupations or when analysing the gender wage gap (particularly for weekly earnings).