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 Factors affecting interpretation.
Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator
Latest release
Experimental estimates of employee earnings, sourced from Single Touch Payroll (STP) data
Reference period
April to September 2023
Released
21/11/2023
Key statistics
In September 2023 total wages and salaries paid by employers:
- rose by 3.8% from August 2023 due to the payment of cyclical bonuses
- rose to $99,570 million, up $3,676 million from August 2023
Updated imputation method
The STP dataset is a rich, complex and dynamic administrative dataset, based on the reporting of around 700,000 businesses. The ABS is continuing to learn new things about this dataset and how best to produce statistics from it, which are reflected in enhancements to methods over time. As such, this new wages and salaries measure is considered experimental. In this release, the ABS has updated the imputation method to better account for differing business reporting behaviours, to improve data completeness in the latest 3 months and reduce longer term revisions caused by updated business reporting.
Imputation is currently only used in the latest 3 reference periods (July, August and September). This results in a temporary but currently unavoidable overstatement in the monthly change between June and July 2023. This monthly change is expected to be revised downward as business reporting becomes more complete in the coming year.
Users should use caution when interpreting month change for July 2023. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
National
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month change (%) | -1.2 | -0.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 (a) | 1.6 | 3.8 |
| Annual change (%) | 9.9 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
| Total wages and salaries ($m) | 91,860 | 91,479 | 92,054 | 94,409 | 95,894 | 99,570 |
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
a. The three most recent months include imputation to temporarily account for less complete data and will be revised as business reporting becomes more complete. Future enhancements to the imputation method will, in addition to reducing the extent of revisions, also increase the comparability of periods containing imputation (in this release July, August and September) to those without (June and prior months).
State and territory
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all states and territories from August 2023.
- The largest increase was in Western Australia (4.7%) due to its high proportion of employees in the Mining industry with cyclical bonuses
- The smallest increase was in the Northern Territory (0.5%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | -1.4 | -1.2 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 4.0 |
| Victoria | -1.0 | -0.4 | -0.1 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 3.9 |
| Queensland | -0.7 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
| South Australia | -0.1 | -0.6 | 0.1 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 3.7 |
| Western Australia | -3.1 | -0.8 | 0.2 | 4.2 | 1.1 | 4.7 |
| Tasmania | -1.6 | -0.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Northern Territory | 0.5 | -0.4 | 0.2 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 0.5 |
| Australian Capital Territory | -0.1 | 1.1 | -0.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 3.1 |
| Australia | -1.2 | -0.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 3.8 |
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all states and territories in the year from September 2022.
- The largest rise was in the Northern Territory (13.8%)
- The smallest rise was in Victoria (7.5%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 9.9 | 9.6 | 4.6 | 6.9 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Victoria | 8.7 | 9.6 | 4.8 | 7.4 | 6.4 | 7.5 |
| Queensland | 11.0 | 12.5 | 7.7 | 10.4 | 10.0 | 9.2 |
| South Australia | 9.7 | 10.1 | 7.1 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 9.0 |
| Western Australia | 11.8 | 11.4 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 8.3 | 9.1 |
| Tasmania | 6.7 | 8.2 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Northern Territory | 4.0 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 12.1 | 11.1 | 13.8 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 11.0 | 9.3 | 5.5 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 10.8 |
| Australia | 9.9 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
a. States and territories ranked by month percentage change.
b. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
Industry
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in 18 of 19 industries from August 2023.
- Industries with rises above 7% related to businesses paying cyclical bonuses in September
- The only fall was in Education and training (2.0%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 0.5 | 0.8 | -2.5 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 3.2 |
| Mining | -12.3 | -2.2 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 12.5 |
| Manufacturing | -3.9 | -1.6 | -0.5 | 4.5 | 0.9 | 3.6 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 0.8 | -1.1 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 13.5 |
| Construction | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Wholesale trade | -3.8 | -3.1 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Retail trade | 1.1 | -3.5 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| Accommodation and food services | 2.1 | -2.9 | -0.1 | 6.9 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 1.5 | -1.9 | -0.6 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 7.2 |
| Information media and telecommunications | -4.2 | -1.7 | 2.8 | -2.5 | 4.9 | 16.9 |
| Financial and insurance services | -4.1 | -0.7 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 13.4 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | -4.2 | -0.3 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 4.2 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | -0.7 | -0.5 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| Administrative and support services | -3.2 | 2.6 | -1.0 | 7.1 | -1.4 | 2.3 |
| Public administration and safety | 0.4 | 0.6 | -0.2 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Education and training | -2.1 | 3.4 | -0.4 | -1.9 | 7.3 | -2.0 |
| Health care and social assistance | 1.8 | -0.7 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| Arts and recreation services | -0.1 | -2.9 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| Other services | 0.2 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 2.1 |
| All industries | -1.2 | -0.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 3.8 |
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
b. Some industries experience pronounced seasonality in wages and salaries paid by employers, which can affect interpretation of change between months.
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all industries in the year from September 2022.
- The largest rise was in Electricity, gas, water and waste services (14.9%)
- The smallest rise was in Retail trade (5.1%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 9.1 | 10.1 | 0.7 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 8.8 |
| Mining | 13.9 | 16.4 | 9.5 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| Manufacturing | 10.5 | 11.6 | 5.6 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.7 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 11.4 | 12.0 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 11.7 | 14.9 |
| Construction | 14.6 | 13.2 | 9.1 | 10.2 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| Wholesale trade | 8.8 | 9.9 | 3.6 | 6.5 | 6.2 | 6.3 |
| Retail trade | 8.9 | 9.0 | 2.3 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.1 |
| Accommodation and food services | 14.8 | 13.1 | 7.8 | 13.9 | 13.3 | 10.9 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 12.5 | 10.9 | 6.6 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 10.2 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 19.7 | 18.1 | 7.7 | 6.2 | 5.6 | 6.9 |
| Financial and insurance services | 10.4 | 9.7 | 5.6 | 9.5 | 8.9 | 8.8 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 5.0 | 7.0 | 2.6 | 5.8 | 7.0 | 5.5 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 8.6 | 8.8 | 2.0 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Administrative and support services | 10.1 | 10.4 | 2.9 | 8.8 | 6.1 | 7.4 |
| Public administration and safety | 5.0 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 6.7 | 8.1 | 8.6 |
| Education and training | 8.2 | 9.3 | 6.0 | 8.1 | 8.7 | 8.3 |
| Health care and social assistance | 7.9 | 9.6 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 10.4 | 11.9 |
| Arts and recreation services | 14.2 | 13.4 | 8.5 | 9.7 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| Other services | 12.4 | 13.5 | 8.4 | 10.7 | 10.0 | 9.9 |
| All industries | 9.9 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
a. Industries ranked by descending share of total wages and salaries paid by employers in September 2023.
Employment size
From this release, the 0-4 and 5-19 employment size groups have been collapsed into a 0-19 employment size group. See the Summary of outputs subsection of How data is released for more information.
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all employment size groups from August 2023.
- The largest rise was for employers with 200 employees and over (5.6%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-19 employees | -0.8 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| 20-199 employees | -2.1 | -0.4 | -0.2 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 1.9 |
| 200 employees and over | -1.0 | -1.3 | -0.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 5.6 |
| All sizes | -1.2 | -0.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 3.8 |
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
In September 2023, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all employment size groups in the year from September 2022.
- The largest rise was for employers with 200 employees and over (9.9%)
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-19 employees | 3.5 | 4.1 | -0.8 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 20-199 employees | 13.7 | 14.7 | 5.6 | 9.9 | 9.5 | 9.4 |
| 200 employees and over | 10.9 | 10.9 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 9.5 | 9.9 |
| All sizes | 9.9 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
Sector
In September 2023 wages and salaries paid by employers rose from August 2023, in both the private and public sectors (4.3% and 1.8%).
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | -1.7 | -0.8 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 4.3 |
| Public | 0.5 | 1.2 | -0.4 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 1.8 |
| All sectors | -1.2 | -0.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 3.8 |
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
a. Caution should be used when interpreting July month change. See the Imputation subsection of How the data is transformed for more information.
In September 2023 wages and salaries paid by employers rose in the year from September 2022, in both the private and public sectors (8.2% and 9.3%).
| Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 10.8 | 11.0 | 5.1 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Public | 6.7 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 5.9 | 7.8 | 9.3 |
| All sectors | 9.9 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
Data downloads
Table 1. Total wages and salaries paid by employers, percentage change
Data files
Changes in this release
In this release, the Methodology page was updated:
- Factors affecting interpretation: new section added