MAY KEY FIGURES

		May 2012	Feb 2012 to May 2012	May 2011 to May 2012
		$	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
Private & public sectors
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 352.70	0.7	3.5
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 416.30	0.9	4.1
	All employees total earnings	1 058.70	1.1	4.1
Private sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 326.00	0.7	3.6
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 395.10	0.9	4.5
Public sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 450.80	0.8	3.6
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 494.50	0.8	3.2
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
Private & public sectors
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 351.20	0.4	3.4
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 415.10	0.7	4.1
	All employees total earnings	1 057.30	0.7	3.7
Private sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 324.10	0.3	3.4
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 392.80	0.5	4.3
Public sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 450.50	0.7	3.5
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 496.90	1.1	3.4

Full-time adult total earnings, Quarterly % change in trend estimates - All Sectors

Full-time adult total earnings, Quarterly % change in trend estimates - Private and Public

MAY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES

• Full-time adult ordinary time earnings rose by 3.4% for males and 3.6% for females in the twelve months to May 2012.
• In the twelve months to May 2012, full-time adult total earnings rose by 4.3% for males and 3.5% for females.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
November 2012	28 February 2013
May 2013	15 August 2013

FREQUENCY CHANGE

The frequency of the average weekly earnings series is changing from quarterly to biannual in 2012. The May 2012 publication is the last quarterly issue and the November 2012 publication the first produced on a biannual basis. From 2013 onwards, the AWE series will be published twice a year relating to the May and November quarters. An assessment of the feasibility of releasing seasonally adjusted and trend estimates determined that seasonal factors remain present and can be calculated on a biannual basis. However, it should be noted that calculating seasonally adjusted and trend estimates using only two points of measurement each year, rather than the four points available in a quarterly survey, will likely result in a change in the level of these series. For full details on the change in frequency, refer to the Information Paper: Changes to Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, April 2012 (cat. no. 6302.0.55.002).


PUBLICATION FORMAT CHANGE

From the November 2012 issue, released in February 2013, Average Weekly Earnings (cat. no. 6302.0) will be published in an e-magazine (HTML) format and the PDF version of the publication will no longer be available. Note that there will be no loss of content resulting from the change in format.


COMPOSITIONAL EFFECTS

Movements in average weekly earnings can be affected by changes in both the level of earnings per employee and in the composition of the labour force. Refer to paragraphs 26 and 27 of the Explanatory Notes.


SAMPLING ERROR

For information on sampling error, see the Technical Note (on page 33 of the PDF version of this publication or under the Explanatory Notes tab on the website). Standard errors for the original estimates contained in this publication are in Tables 18 to 20.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Francesco Tornatore on Perth (08) 9360 5304.