6306.0.55.001 - Microdata: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/06/2015   
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GLOSSARY

Adult rate

Payment at the full rate stipulated in an award, agreement or the minimum wage order in the relevant jurisdiction.

Apprentice or trainee rate

Payment at a rate stipulated for apprentices or trainees in an award, agreement or the minimum wage order in the relevant jurisdiction.

Award only

Awards are legally enforceable determinations made by federal or state industrial tribunals that set the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions), usually in a particular industry or occupation.

An award may be the sole mechanism used to set the pay and/or conditions for an employee or group of employees, or may be used in conjunction with an individual or collective agreement. Employees are classified to the Award only category if they are paid at the rate of pay specified in the Award and are not paid more than that rate of pay.

Cash earnings

Remuneration paid to employees on a regular and frequent basis (quarterly or more frequently) for time worked or work done, and for time not worked such as recreation and other types of leave. Cash earnings (inclusive of amounts salary sacrificed) are gross amounts, that is, before tax and other items (e.g. superannuation) are deducted.

Casual employees

Casual employees usually receive a higher rate of pay to compensate for lack of permanency and leave entitlements.

Casual loading

A higher rate of pay an employee receives to compensate for lack of permanency or leave entitlements.

Collective agreement

An agreement between an employer (or group of employers) and a group of employees (or one or more unions or employee associations representing the employees). A collective agreement sets the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions) for a group of employees, and is usually registered with a Federal or State industrial tribunal or authority.

Employees are classified to the Collective agreement category if they had the main part of their pay set by a collective agreement (registered or unregistered) or enterprise award.

Disability rate

Payment stipulated in Schedule A to the National Minimum Wage Order (or an award or agreement with a specific schedule) for employees with a disability who:

  • are unable to perform the range of duties to the competence level required of an employee within the class of work for which the employee is engaged because of the effects of disability on their productive capacity; and
  • who meet the impairment criteria for receipt of a Disability Support Pension.

Employees

Persons who worked for a private or public sector employer and received pay for the reference period in the form of wages or salaries, a commission while also receiving a retainer, tips, piece rates or payments in kind. Persons who operated their own incorporated enterprises with or without hiring employees are also included as employees.

Employer size

A measure of the size of the business in terms of the number of employees within that business. The employer size reflects the size of the business in a particular state or territory and not necessarily the size of the business Australia-wide.

Full-time employees

Full-time employees are permanent, temporary and casual employees who normally work the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation and received pay for any part of the reference period. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as full-time if they ordinarily work 35 hours or more per week.

Individual arrangement

An arrangement between an employer and an individual employee on the terms of employment (pay and/or conditions) for the employee. Common types of individual arrangements are individual contracts, letters of offer and common law contracts. Employees are classified to the Individual arrangement category if they have their pay set by an individual contract, individual agreement registered with a Federal or State industrial tribunal or authority (e.g. Australian Workplace Agreement), common law contract (including for award or agreement free employees), or if they receive over-award payments by individual agreement.

However, the Fair Work Act 2009 does not allow the making of new individual employee agreements. Collective enterprise agreements contain a provision which allows flexibility in the workplace to be achieved by agreement between an employer and individual employee. Agreements which existed under the Workplace Relations Act will continue in existence under the Fair Work Act 2009 as ‘agreement-based transitional instruments’. These are defined by the Fair Work (Transitional and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 (TA Act).

Industry

Industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).

Junior rate

Payment at a proportion of the full adult rate stipulated in an award, agreement or the minimum wage order in the relevant jurisdiction, based on age.

Jurisdiction

The workplace relations jurisdiction (i.e. federal or state) under which an employee is deemed to be for pay-setting purposes, based on the jurisdiction of the employer.

Jurisdiction of registered agreement

The federal (national) or state industrial tribunal or authority with which written individual or collective agreements have been certified, approved or registered. Estimates have been compiled based on the workplace relations environment following the introduction of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the subsequent introduction of the Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Act, which allowed for the extension of the Fair Work Act to states that refer workplace relations related matters to the Commonwealth. The Fair Work system replaces the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 which came into effect in March 2006.

All employees based in the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria are covered by the national system. Employees of private sector employers in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania are also covered by the national system. Other employees may be covered by either the national or state system depending on the circumstances that prevail in the workplace.

Managerial employees

Employees who have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation and/or are in charge of a significant number of employees. These employees usually do not have an entitlement to paid overtime. Includes professionally qualified staff who primarily perform managerial tasks in conjunction with utilising their professional skills. Owner managers of incorporated enterprises are regarded as managerial employees.

Method of setting pay

How an employee's pay is set. Methods are classified to one of the following categories: Award only; Collective agreement; Individual arrangement; or Owner manager of incorporated enterprise.

Non-managerial employees

Employees who are not managerial employees (as defined above), including non-managerial professionals and some employees with supervisory responsibilities.

Occupation

Occupation is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), 2013 (cat. no. 1220.0).

Ordinary time cash earnings

Payment for award, standard or agreed hours of work, including allowances, penalty payments, payments by measured result and regular bonuses and commissions. Ordinary time cash earnings are inclusive of amounts salary sacrificed. Excluded are non-cash components of salary packages, overtime payments, retrospective pay, pay in advance, leave loadings, severance pay, and termination and redundancy payments.

Ordinary time hours paid for

Award, standard or agreed hours of work, paid for at the ordinary time rate. Included is stand-by or reporting time which is part of standard hours of work, and that part of annual leave, paid sick leave and long service leave taken during the reference period.

Hours paid for could not be provided for Managerial employees where there was no relationship between earnings and hours. As a result, data for hours paid for and hourly cash earnings are only produced for employees with a link between earnings and hours.

Overtime cash earnings

Payment for hours in excess of award, standard or agreed hours of work.

Overtime hours paid for

Hours which are in excess of award, standard or agreed hours of work.

Owner manager of incorporated enterprise

A person who works in their own incorporated enterprise, that is, a business entity which is registered as a separate legal entity to its members or owners (for example, a limited liability company).

Part-time employees

Employees who normally work less than the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as part-time if they ordinarily work less than 35 hours per week.

Permanent or fixed term employees

Permanent employees are usually employed on an ongoing basis and are entitled to paid annual and sick leave. Fixed term employees are employed for a specified period of employment, and may be entitled to paid leave.

Reference period

The survey refers to the last pay period ending on or before 16 May 2014. All estimates of earnings and hours in this release are weekly. For employees paid other than weekly, estimates of earnings and hours have been converted to a weekly basis.

Salary sacrifice

Salary sacrifice is defined as an arrangement where an employee agrees to forgo part of their pre-tax salary in return for benefits. Common types of salary sacrifice arrangements include pre-tax contributions to superannuation funds and novated leases for motor vehicles.

SAS

A data analysis and statistical software system.

Sector

Public sector comprises local government authorities and all government departments and agencies created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth, or State/Territory Parliaments. The private sector comprises all organisations not classified as public sector.

SPSS

A data analysis and statistical software system.

STATA

A data analysis and statistical software system.

Total hours paid for

The sum of ordinary time hours paid for plus overtime hours paid for.

Weekly total cash earnings

The sum of weekly ordinary time cash earnings plus weekly overtime earnings.