Earnings and working conditions

In the December quarter 2021:

• 55 disputes occurred.
• 57,200 employees were involved and 68,500 working days lost.
• disputes occurred in 8 industries and in 8 states and territories.

During the year ended December 2021, there were 130 disputes and a total of 116,600 working days lost.

Estimates for average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults (seasonally adjusted):

• Increased by 2.1% to $1,748.40 annually to November 2021.
• Males: $2,025.20 (public), and $1,812.30 (private).
• Females: $1,799.30 (public), and $1,504.80 (private).

• Median weekly earnings were $1,209.00 for all employees, $1,390.00 for males and $1,042.00 for females.
• Occupations with the highest hourly earnings were Managers ($65.10) and Professionals ($57.90).
• Individual arrangement was the most common method of setting pay (37.8%), followed by collective agreement (35.1%).

During 2018-19:

• Total personal income was $951.4 billion
• Median personal income was $51,389, up 3.2% on 2017-18
• Employee income was the largest income category at 87.1% of total personal income

• Median employee earnings was $1,200 per week, up $50 (4.3%) since August 2020.
• Median hourly earnings remained at $36 per hour since August 2020. 

• Median employee earnings increased $50 (4.3%) between August 2020 and August 2021, to $1,200 per week.
• 2.4 million casual employees (23% of employees, 19% of all employed), down from 2.6 million in May 2021.
• 41% of employed people regularly worked from home, up from 32% in August 2019.
• 1.0 million independent contractors (7.8% of all employed).

• 2.4 million casual employees (23% of employees, 19% of all employed), down from 2.6 million in May 2021.

• 41% of employed people regularly worked from home, up from 32% in Aug 2019.

• 1.0 million independent contractors (7.8% of all employed).

• 43% of employees were entitled to paid parental leave.

• 14% of employees (1.4 million) were trade union members.
• Since 1992, the proportion of employees who were trade union members has fallen from 40% to 14%.
• The Education and Training industry (31%) and the Professionals occupation (21%) had the highest trade union membership.

• 563,600 people had a work-related injury or illness (4.2% of people who worked at some time during the year).
• The most common cause of injury or illness was 'Lifting, pushing, pulling or bending' (24.2%).
• 60% had time off as a result of the injury or illness.
• 27% received workers compensation for the injury or illness.