NORTHERN TERRITORY

On this page:

Statistical Local Areas With Highest Average Wage and Salary Income
Wage and Salary Earners By Occupation
Wage and Salary Earners By Wage and Salary Income
Wage and Salary Earners By Sex
Wage and Salary Earners By Age
Total Income of Wage and Salary Earners



STATISTICAL LOCAL AREAS WITH HIGHEST AVERAGE WAGE AND SALARY INCOME


In the Northern Territory, the three Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) with the highest average wage and salary incomes in 2003-04, had a focus on the mining industry. Wage and salary earners residing in the SLA of Groote Eylandt had the highest average wage and salary income in the Northern Territory, and the 14th highest nationally, at $58,609. This SLA includes areas such as Groote Eylandt, an island off the east coast of Arnhem Land in the Gulf of Carpentaria known for the mining of manganese, and Bickerton and Wooden Islands.

Wage and salary earners residing in Nhulunbuy, located on the north eastern tip of the Gove Peninsula, had the second highest average wage and salary income at $48,826 (ranked 63rd nationally), around $10,000 less than the average in Groote Eylandt, followed by Jabiru (T), located in the middle of the world heritage national park Kakadu, with the third highest average wage and salary income at $45,085 (ranked 123rd nationally).

The metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay, both located in Darwin along the coastline of Fannie Bay, had the fourth and fifth highest average wage and salary incomes in the Northern Territory at just under $45,000. These SLAs were ranked 140th and 141st in terms of average wage and salary incomes across Australia.


This article focuses on the five SLAs in the Northern Territory with the highest average wage and salary incomes in 2003-04. To view images of these SLAs via Google Maps Australia please click on the following links: Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy, Jabiru (T), The Gardens and Fannie Bay.

			Wage and salary earners	Wage and salary income	Average wage and salary income
SLA Name			No.	$	$
Groote Eylandt			313	18,344,534	58,609
Nhulunbuy			1,144	55,857,352	48,826
Jabiru (T)			483	21,775,892	45,085
The Gardens			382	17,138,133	44,864
Fannie Bay			1,307	58,622,887	44,853
Northern Territory			76,055	3,044,262,091	40,027

Source: ATO Income Tax Data



WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY OCCUPATION


In Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T), wage and salary earners were predominantly employed in the occupations of Professionals, Tradespersons and related workers, Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers, Intermediate production and transport workers and Labourers and related workers.

While in the metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay around one in four wage and salary earners did not state their occupation, 19% of the wage and salary earners in these SLAs indicated they were employed as Professionals and 18% indicated they were employed as Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers.

	Manag- ers and admini- strators	Profess- ionals	Associ- ate prof- ession- als	Trades- persons and related workers	Advanc- ed clerical and service workers	Interme- diate clerical, sales and service workers	Interme- diate product- ion and transport workers	Element- ary clerical, sales and service workers	Labour- ers and related workers	Not stated
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Groote Eylandt	5.4	17.6	10.9	13.7	1.9	11.5	17.6	5.8	12.1	3.5
Nhulunbuy	5.7	21.0	5.6	13.7	2.3	16.0	11.2	7.5	11.3	5.7
Jabiru (T)	5.2	23.1	8.5	13.2	1.0	18.6	8.0	7.2	8.5	6.8
The Gardens	9.9	18.8	7.9	6.3	3.4	17.5	3.4	6.3	3.9	22.5
Fannie Bay	10.1	18.9	7.8	7.2	2.4	17.5	3.5	6.4	4.0	22.3
Northern Territory	8.3	17.6	8.4	9.7	2.1	18.5	5.8	8.9	7.6	13.1

Source: ATO Income Tax Data.



WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY WAGE AND SALARY INCOME


While the income range distribution of the metropolitan SLA wage and salary earners tended to be around the Northern Territory average, with slightly higher proportions in the higher income ranges and slightly lower proportions in the lower income ranges, this was not the case for the three non-metropolitan SLAs.

The highest proportion of wage and salary earners in Groote Eylandt SLA were in the $78,000 or more income range in 2003-04, accounting for around 30% of wage and salary earners, compared to 6% across the Northern Territory. In Jabiru (T) the highest proportion of wage and salary earners were in the $52,000 to under $78,000 income range at just under 30%, compared to the Northern Territory average of 20% of wage and salary earners in this income range.

Other notable differences in the income range distribution of wage and salary earners in Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T) compared to that across the Northern Territory, and the metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay, were in the mid to high income ranges of $31,200 to under $41,600 and $41,600 to under $52,000.

In Groote Eylandt, 9% of wage and salary earners were in the $31,200 to under $41,600 income range compared to an average of 19% of wage and salary earners across the Northern Territory. Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T) also had a lower than average proportion of wage and salary earners in the $31,200 to under $41,600 income range. In the $41,600 to less than $52,000 income range there were around 10% of wage and salary earners in each of Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T). This can be compared with 17% in this income range across the Northern Territory and 21% in the metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay.

	$1 to less than $10,400	$10,400 to less than $20,800	$20,800 to less than $31,200	$31,200 to less than $41,600	$41,600 to less than $52,000	$52,000 to less than $78,000	$78,000 or more
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Groote Eylandt	8.6	10.9	12.5	8.6	8.9	20.8	29.7
Nhulunbuy	10.9	12.1	12.5	12.5	10.1	21.2	20.7
Jabiru (T)	9.7	11.8	14.0	16.1	9.3	28.5	10.7
The Gardens	7.3	10.0	14.4	17.8	20.7	21.3	8.4
Fannie Bay	7.3	10.1	14.5	17.9	20.6	21.3	8.3
Northern Territory	9.7	12.6	15.7	19.3	16.7	19.9	6.1

---

Source: ATO Income Tax Data.

WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY SEX


In the Northern Territory there was a higher proportion of male wage and salary earners than female wage and salary earners with males accounting for 53% of the wage and salary earner population.

Each of the Northern Territory SLAs with the highest average incomes had above the Northern Territory average proportions of male wage and salary earners with Groote Eylandt having the highest proportion of male wage and salary earners at 59%, followed by Jabiru (T) (58%) and Nhulunbuy (56%).




WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY AGE

In terms of the ages of the wage and salary earners in these SLAs, Groote Eylandt again had quite different characteristics to the Northern Territory average and the metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay. There was a much lower proportion of wage and salary earners aged 15 to 24 years (9% in Groote Eylandt compared to 18% across the Northern Territory and around 20% for The Gardens and Fannie Bay), and a much higher proportion of wage and salary earners aged 35 to 44 years (34% compared to 25% and 22%). The SLAs of Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T) had similar age profiles to Groote Eylandt.

Australia wide, of the SLAs with 100 or more wage and salary earners, Groote Eylandt had the lowest proportion of wage and salary earners in the 15 to 24 year age group and the third highest proportion of wage and salary earners aged 35 to 44 years.

	15-24 years	25-34 years	35-44 years	45-54 years	55 years and over
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%
Groote Eylandt	8.6	26.2	33.5	22.7	8.9
Nhulunbuy	14.2	23.9	29.5	22.6	9.9
Jabiru (T)	13.0	30.6	30.2	19.7	6.4
The Gardens	20.7	31.8	21.5	17.3	8.7
Fannie Bay	20.4	31.7	21.6	17.3	9.0
Northern Territory	18.3	26.9	24.9	20.4	9.5

Source: ATO Income Tax Data.



TOTAL INCOME OF WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS


The total income of wage and salary earners relates to their wage and salary income in addition to any income or loss from sources such as investments, superannuation and annuities, own unincorporated businesses and government cash benefits.

Wage and salary earners in the metropolitan SLAs of The Gardens and Fannie Bay received nearly $2,000 on average from sources other than wages and salaries, whereas the Northern Territory average difference between average wage and salary income and average total income was $1,370.

In Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T), wage and salary earners received less than the Northern Territory average income from sources other than wages and salaries. In the case of Groote Eylandt, wage and salary earners had an average difference between wage and salary income and total income of $118. Wage and salary earners resident in Nhulunbuy and Jabiru (T) received $757 and $928 from other sources respectively.

			Average wage and salary income	Average total income	Average total income less Average wage and salary income
SLA Name			$	$	$
Groote Eylandt			58,609	58,727	118
Nhulunbuy			48,826	49,583	757
Jabiru (T)			45,085	46,013	928
The Gardens			44,864	46,804	1,940
Fannie Bay			44,853	46,797	1,944
Northern Territory			40,027	41,397	1,370

Source: ATO Income Tax Data



To access wage and salary data for all SLAs in Australia click on the following link to Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics, Australia - Data Cubes, 2003-04 (cat. no. 5673.0.55.003).