Earnings levels guide

Guide to labour statistics

Learn about our earnings levels measures and how to use them

Released

7/11/2022

Release date and time

07/11/2022 11:30am AEDT

Overview

Earnings level estimates measure the value of earnings in dollar terms. The Earnings guide includes information about other earnings measures.

Headline measure

Average Weekly Earnings, Australia (AWE) is our headline measure of average earnings.

We have produced average weekly earnings estimates since 1941. The current survey commenced in 1983 and data has been released every six months since 2012, and quarterly before that. You can learn more about AWE over time on the Average Weekly Earnings methodology page.

AWE provides estimates by sex, state/territory, and public/private sector for three earnings series:

Full-time adult ordinary time earnings
Full-time adult total earnings
Total earnings.

We also produce a cash earnings series, which is the most comprehensive measure of average earnings in Australia.

You can use AWE to analyse earnings levels over time.

Average weekly earnings (Original)
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings ($)	Full-time adult total earnings ($)	Total earnings ($)	Full-time adult ordinary time cash earnings ($)	Full-time adult total cash earnings ($)	Total cash earnings ($)
Nov-94	630.10	672.60	542.40
Feb-95	640.10	681.10	549.20
May-95	648.20	688.80	548.90
Aug-95	653.20	692.70	548.90
Nov-95	661.20	704.40	555.40
Feb-96	667.00	708.50	563.80
May-96	673.80	716.50	565.50
Aug-96	677.20	717.80	567.40
Nov-96	686.10	730.90	570.60
Feb-97	694.20	733.20	582.20
May-97	696.30	736.70	578.10
Aug-97	706.30	746.00	582.40
Nov-97	710.60	752.70	592.60
Feb-98	721.40	761.50	597.70
May-98	725.70	766.90	596.00
Aug-98	734.70	774.90	602.70
Nov-98	739.50	783.50	603.40
Feb-99	742.90	782.10	607.90
May-99	748.50	788.60	610.40
Aug-99	749.50	787.50	604.80
Nov-99	760.80	802.90	613.00
Feb-00	772.10	808.60	625.00
May-00	779.10	818.40	633.80
Aug-00	794.10	833.20	645.40
Nov-00	798.10	834.70	643.10
Feb-01	805.90	840.10	658.40
May-01	818.80	856.10	660.30
Aug-01	833.00	867.60	670.20
Nov-01	842.60	879.60	673.60
Feb-02	853.90	891.40	684.60
May-02	860.10	899.50	683.80
Aug-02	872.40	911.60	694.10
Nov-02	882.10	924.70	699.40
Feb-03	892.50	933.10	713.90
May-03	912.80	954.30	721.40
Aug-03	920.50	964.70	728.80
Nov-03	929.10	979.20	740.30
Feb-04	937.90	985.00	749.80
May-04	939.00	984.00	741.40
Aug-04	952.00	999.80	754.80
Nov-04	965.00	1,017.20	761.70
Feb-05	980.60	1,034.40	783.20
May-05	993.80	1,047.10	784.20
Aug-05	1,009.20	1,056.70	799.50
Nov-05	1,011.80	1,066.00	800.60
Feb-06	1,023.30	1,072.10	816.50
May-06	1,025.80	1,073.60	819.70
Aug-06	1,037.10	1,084.30	830.20
Nov-06	1,044.10	1,093.80	837.40
Feb-07	1,058.50	1,105.10	857.10
May-07	1,076.80	1,124.10	858.50
Aug-07	1,093.10	1,141.80	871.10
Nov-07	1,098.60	1,151.00	873.20
Feb-08	1,113.10	1,164.90	886.60
May-08	1,119.60	1,171.50	885.00
Aug-08	1,144.50	1,195.20	901.80
Nov-08	1,158.00	1,210.80	909.50
Feb-09	1,175.60	1,222.70	921.10
May-09	1,187.80	1,234.90	918.60
Aug-09	1,204.20	1,250.30	940.00
Nov-09	1,226.80	1,276.70	955.00
Feb-10	1,243.90	1,290.70	973.80
May-10	1,250.10	1,300.30	977.10	1,301.40	1,351.50	1,016.00
Aug-10	1,258.80	1,309.70	978.40	1,310.60	1,361.50	1,017.50
Nov-10	1,275.20	1,328.50	996.10	1,327.80	1,381.00	1,035.50
Feb-11	1,291.30	1,343.70	1,011.80	1,344.20	1,396.60	1,051.90
May-11	1,304.70	1,357.90	1,015.20	1,357.40	1,410.60	1,055.10
Aug-11	1,324.90	1,376.20	1,024.20	1,377.70	1,429.00	1,063.60
Nov-11	1,330.10	1,390.50	1,033.70	1,381.40	1,441.80	1,072.30
Feb-12	1,348.10	1,406.80	1,056.20	1,400.70	1,459.40	1,096.90
May-12	1,349.20	1,413.10	1,053.20	1,401.50	1,465.40	1,093.60
Aug-12
Nov-12	1,396.00	1,458.00	1,081.30	1,441.00	1,503.10	1,116.40
Feb-13
May-13	1,420.90	1,482.50	1,105.00	1,464.40	1,526.00	1,140.30
Aug-13
Nov-13	1,437.00	1,500.10	1,114.20	1,483.50	1,546.60	1,151.30
Feb-14
May-14	1,454.10	1,515.80	1,123.00	1,502.50	1,564.20	1,161.70
Aug-14
Nov-14	1,477.00	1,542.40	1,128.70	1,528.40	1,593.90	1,168.30
Feb-15
May-15	1,483.10	1,541.50	1,136.90	1,537.30	1,595.70	1,179.00
Aug-15
Nov-15	1,500.50	1,560.50	1,145.70	1,556.50	1,616.50	1,188.90
Feb-16
May-16	1,516.00	1,573.30	1,160.90	1,568.30	1,625.60	1,202.10
Aug-16
Nov-16	1,533.40	1,595.50	1,163.50	1,584.30	1,646.40	1,203.10
Feb-17
May-17	1,543.20	1,605.60	1,179.00	1,594.10	1,656.50	1,218.80
Aug-17
Nov-17	1,569.60	1,632.10	1,191.50	1,615.30	1,677.70	1,227.10
Feb-18
May-18	1,585.30	1,650.60	1,207.40	1,631.10	1,696.40	1,243.50
Aug-18
Nov-18	1,605.50	1,668.10	1,225.30	1,651.30	1,713.90	1,261.60
Feb-19
May-19	1,634.80	1,695.10	1,237.90	1,681.60	1,741.80	1,275.60
Aug-19
Nov-19	1,658.40	1,722.80	1,257.00	1,706.20	1,770.60	1,295.40
Feb-20
May-20	1,713.90	1,768.90	1,304.70	1,762.20	1,817.10	1,343.40
Aug-20
Nov-20	1,711.60	1,769.90	1,280.30	1,757.20	1,815.60	1,316.60
Feb-21
May-21	1,737.10	1,797.00	1,305.80	1,783.70	1,843.50	1,343.50
Aug-21
Nov-21	1,748.40	1,813.00	1,328.90	1,794.60	1,859.30	1,366.60
Feb-22
May-22	1,769.80	1,835.30	1,344.70	1,816.10	1,881.60	1,382.30
Aug-22
Nov-22	1,807.70	1,878.50	1,378.60	1,851.30	1,922.20	1,414.60
Feb-23
May-23	1,838.10	1,906.60	1,399.10	1,883.10	1,951.60	1,437.20
Aug-23
Nov-23	1,888.80	1,958.00	1,432.60	1,934.80	2,004.10	1,471.00

Average weekly earnings (Original)

["","Full-time adult ordinary time earnings","Full-time adult total earnings","Total earnings","Full-time adult ordinary time cash earnings","Full-time adult total cash earnings","Total cash earnings"]

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null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[1351.5],[1361.5],[1381],[1396.6],[1410.6],[1429],[1441.8],[1459.4],[1465.4],[null],[1503.1],[null],[1526],[null],[1546.6],[null],[1564.2],[null],[1593.9],[null],[1595.7],[null],[1616.5],[null],[1625.6],[null],[1646.4],[null],[1656.5],[null],[1677.7],[null],[1696.4],[null],[1713.9],[null],[1741.8],[null],[1770.6],[null],[1817.1],[null],[1815.6],[null],[1843.5],[null],[1859.3],[null],[1881.6],[null],[1922.2],[null],[1951.6],[null],[2004.1]],[[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[1016],[1017.5],[1035.5],[1051.9],[1055.1],[1063.6],[1072.3],[1096.9],[1093.6],[null],[1116.4],[null],[1140.3],[null],[1151.3],[null],[1161.7],[null],[1168.3],[null],[1179],[null],[1188.9],[null],[1202.1],[null],[1203.1],[null],[1218.8],[null],[1227.1],[null],[1243.5],[null],[1261.6],[null],[1275.6],[null],[1295.4],[null],[1343.4],[null],[1316.6],[null],[1343.5],[null],[1366.6],[null],[1382.3],[null],[1414.6],[null],[1437.2],[null],[1471]]]

[]

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Source: Average Weekly Earnings, May 2023

Other estimates

Other sources of earnings level estimates provide extra detail beyond what is available from AWE.

Employee Earnings and Hours

Composition and distribution of weekly and hourly earnings, hours paid for and pay-setting methods.
Includes data by full-time/part-time status, industry, sex, state/territory, public/private sector, age, casual status and occupation.
Employee Earnings and Hours is sourced from the two-yearly Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours.

Employee earnings

Includes earnings data by sex, state/territory, occupation, industry and education qualifications.
Employee earnings is sourced from the annual Characteristics of Employment Labour Force supplementary survey.

Personal Income in Australia

Personal income estimates (including employee earnings) by age, sex, state/territory, and over 2,200 regions.
Personal Income in Australia is sourced from the Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED), which is based on tax data.

See the Earnings chapter of the Labour Statistics Concepts, Sources and Methods for more information on earnings concepts and measures.

APA

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