Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator

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Experimental estimates of employee earnings, sourced from Single Touch Payroll (STP) data

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Reference period
April 2023
Released
21/06/2023
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Key statistics

  • In April 2023, total wages and salaries paid by employers fell by 1.7% or $1.6 billion from March 2023
  • Total wages and salaries paid by employers was $91.4 billion in April 2023

Future releases

Information on future plans for this release will be included in the Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia release on 13 July 2023.

Original series and compositional change

Monthly estimates of wages and salaries paid by employers complement other measures of aggregate earnings, which are only available on a quarterly basis. Month estimates are adjusted to account for the differing number of days in each month, however they are presented as an original series and are not yet seasonally adjusted.

As a measure of aggregate earnings, estimates presented in this release include compositional changes in the labour market, which are described in more detail in the Factors affecting interpretation section below. Users should consider possible compositional changes when referring to change between months.

Factors affecting interpretation

These estimates are not seasonally adjusted. Seasonality can affect the interpretation of change in wages and salaries paid by employers, particularly between sub-annual periods. Annual comparisons can assist in understanding underlying change, however they are less useful when labour market shocks such as adverse weather events or pandemic lockdowns don't occur in the same month in both years. 

In addition, when comparing the change in wages and salaries paid by employers between any two periods, interpretation can be complicated by variation in composition. Aggregate estimates in this release are compiled from over 11 million jobs and movements can include changes in composition (which are not quantified), unlike the ABS Wage Price Index which presents changes in the price of labour unaffected by compositional shifts in the labour force, hours worked or employee characteristics.

Variability in wages and salaries paid by employers between reference periods may be due to: 

  • variations in demand for casual staff,
  • changes in hours worked,
  • payment of penalty rates for public holidays,
  • the inclusion of cyclical payments such as bonuses, commissions or lump sum payment of leave loading, or
  • the inclusion of irregular payments such as overtime, ad hoc or one-off payments relating to employee recognition or enterprise agreement sign-on.

Compositional change can differ between industries and states and territories, particularly when there are localised labour market issues.

State and territory

In April 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers fell in 7 of 8 states and territories from March 2023:

  • The largest fall was in Western Australia (down 3.7%), due to its high proportion of employees in the Mining industry with cyclical bonuses in March
  • The only rise was in Northern Territory (up 0.5%)
Wages and salaries paid by employers, by state and territory
Month change (%)Annual change (%)
New South Wales-1.89.5
Victoria-1.58
Queensland-1.110.3
South Australia-0.49
Western Australia-3.711.6
Tasmania-1.67.5
Northern Territory0.55
Australian Capital Territory-0.84.8
Australia-1.79.3

a. States and territories ranked by month percentage change

Industry

In April 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers fell in 11 of 19 industries from March 2023:

  • The largest fall was in Mining (down 13.8%), after its peak from cyclical bonuses in March 
  • The largest rise was in Accommodation and food services (up 2.1%)
Wages and salaries paid by employers, by industry (a)
Month change (%)Annual change (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing0.58.9
Mining-13.813.3
Manufacturing-4.010.2
Electricity, gas, water and waste services0.311.4
Construction-0.113.6
Wholesale trade-3.89.2
Retail trade1.08.5
Accommodation and food services2.114.3
Transport, postal and warehousing1.111.7
Information media and telecommunications-4.719.4
Financial and insurance services-4.911.3
Rental, hiring and real estate services-5.04.8
Professional, scientific and technical services-1.38.3
Administrative and support services-3.68.8
Public administration and safety0.12.7
Education and training-2.17.4
Health care and social assistance1.16.9
Arts and recreation services0.714.7
Other services-0.211.7
All industries-1.79.3

a. Some industries experience pronounced seasonality in wages and salaries paid by employers, which can affect interpretation of change between months. 

a. Industries ranked by month percentage change

Employment size

In April 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers fell in all employment size groups from March 2023:

  • The largest fall was for employers with 20-199 employees (down 2.4%)
Wages and salaries paid by employers, employment size
Month change (%)Annual change (%)
0-4 employees-0.8-5.5
5-19 employees-1.78.1
20-199 employees-2.413.9
200 employees and over-1.410.1
All sizes-1.79.3

Sector

In April 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers fell in the private sector (down 2.2%) and rose in the public sector (up 0.3%).

Wages and salaries paid by employers, by sector
Month change (%)Annual change (%)
Private sector-2.210.2
Public sector0.35.6
All sectors-1.79.3

Methodology

Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator methodology, April 2023

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