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ABOUT THE PUBLICATION

The publication contains preliminary estimates obtained from a sample survey of employers conducted in May 2002. The survey is designed to provide statistics on the composition and distribution of earnings and hours of wage and salary earners, and how their pay is set. Final estimates will be published in Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2002 (cat. no. 6306.0), expected to be released in March 2003.


NOTES ON ESTIMATES


Care should be taken when comparing estimates of average weekly earnings in this publication with those published quarterly in Average Weekly Earnings, Australia (cat. no. 6302.0) because of methodological differences between the two surveys, differences in the two samples used, and the preliminary nature of these estimates. The estimates in this publication may differ from the final data to be released in Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2002
(cat. no. 6306.0).


ABS DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

In addition to the information contained in this publication, a range of unpublished data is available on request. For more information on unpublished data refer to the section on ABS data available on request below.


SAMPLING ERRORS

For information on sampling errors see the Technical Notes below.


ABBREVIATIONS

• Average weekly total earnings was $700.60 for all employees; $838.80 for male employees and $554.70 for female employees.

• Average weekly total earnings was $897.00 for full-time adult employees, $384.30 for full-time junior employees and $334.70 for all part-time employees.

• For full-time adult non-managerial employees the ratio of female to male average weekly ordinary time earnings was 89.2%.

• For full-time junior non-managerial employees the ratio of female to male average weekly ordinary time earnings was 94.5%.

• Average weekly overtime earnings for full-time non-managerial employees was $66.00 for males and $12.40 for females.

• Average weekly total earnings for public sector employees were higher than those for private sector employees for all managerial and non-managerial categories except for non-managerial juniors.
• For full-time adult non-managerial employees the ratio of female to male average weekly total earnings was 81.0% in the private sector and 88.8% in the public sector.

• Average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees was highest in the Mining industry ($1,410.70) and lowest in the Accommodation, cafes and restaurants ($641.70) and Retail trade ($656.00) industries.
• The ratio of female to male average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees was highest in the Accommodation, cafes and restaurants industry (95.5%) and lowest in the Personal and other services industry (70.3%).

• Occupation groups with the highest average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees were Managers and administrators ($1,229.40) and Professionals ($1,035.00).

• Occupation groups with the lowest average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees were Elementary clerical, sales and service workers ($639.90); Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers ($715.50) and Labourers and related workers ($722.70).

• The ratio of female to male average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees was highest for the Managers and administrators group (91.6%) and lowest for the Intermediate production and transport workers group (71.9%).

• Average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees were highest in the Australian Capital Territory ($881.10) and New South Wales ($878.50) and lowest in Tasmania ($790.50) and Queensland ($809.20).

• The ratio of female to male average weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees was highest for Tasmania (98.1%) and lowest for Western Australia (81.3%) and Queensland (81.7%).

• Median weekly total earnings for full-time adult non-managerial employees was $771.00 for all employees; $835.00 for male employees and $708.00 for female employees.

• Half of all full-time adult non-managerial employees recorded weekly total earnings between $616.00 and $1,004.00. One-tenth received $519.00 or less while one-tenth received more than $1,258.00.

• For full-time adult non-managerial employees, the average weekly total hours paid for was 40.4 for males and 38.0 for females.

• For part-time adult non-managerial employees, the average weekly total hours paid for was 19.1 hours.

• Information on the methods of setting pay for employees refers to how employees' pay was set in the survey reference period. Those classified under 'awards only' had their pay set at exactly the applicable award rate of pay. Employees in the collective agreement category are those covered by collective agreements or enterprise awards. Those in the individual agreement category include employees whose pay was set by an individual common law contract, employees who received overaward payments, working proprietors who set their own rate of pay and employees on registered individual agreements.

• The most common method of pay setting for employees was individual agreements (42.0%).

• Females were more likely than males to be paid according to awards only; 26.4% compared with 16.0%. Collective agreements set the pay for a similar proportion of males (36.1%) and females (38.0%). More males (47.9%) than females (35.6%) had their pay set by individual agreements.

• Average weekly total earnings was $430.20 for employees on awards only, $760.80 for employees on collective agreements and $783.10 for employees with individual agreements.

• The states or territories with the highest proportions of employees whose pay was set by awards only were South Australia (24.7%) and Queensland (24.3%). Western Australia (15.2%) and the Northern Territory (16.3%) had the lowest proportion of employees whose pay was set by awards only.

• Employees in the Australian Capital Territory (49.0%) and Tasmania (48.9%) were the most likely to have their pay set by a collective agreement. New South Wales (34.3%) had the lowest proportion of employees on collective agreements.

• Western Australia (49.2%) and Victoria (45.2%) had the highest proportion of employees on an individual agreement and Tasmania (29.6%) and the Australian Capital Territory (30.6%) had the lowest.

• The industry with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by awards only was Accommodation, cafes and restaurants (61.3%). The industries with the lowest proportion were Communication services (2.6%) and Finance and insurance (4.9%).

• The industries with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by collective agreements were Government administration and defence (83.7%) and Education (83.5%). The industries with the lowest proportion were Accommodation, cafes and restaurants (6.7%) and Wholesale trade (7.4%).

• The industries with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by individual agreements were Wholesale trade (80.8%) and Property and business services (71.6%). The industries with the lowest proportions were Education (8.7%) and Government administration and defence (9.7%).

• The occupation groups with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by awards only were Elementary clerical, sales and service workers (42.2%) and Labourers and related workers (33.8%). The occupation groups with the lowest proportion were Managers and administrators (0.5%), Associate Professionals (6.6%) and Professionals (7.6%).

• The occupation group with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by collective agreements was Professionals (54.7%). The occupation group with the lowest proportion was Managers and administrators (20.1%).

• The occupation groups with the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by individual agreements were Managers and administrators (79.4%) and Advanced clerical and service workers (64.0%). The occupations with the lowest proportions were Elementary clerical, sales and service workers (24.3%) and Labourers and related workers (28.4%).

• The most prevalent pay setting method for private sector employees was individual agreements (51.0%). In the public sector, collective agreements (88.6%) was the most common pay setting method.

• The proportion of employees whose pay was set by collective agreements rose as employer size increased, whilst the incidence of employees whose pay was set by individual agreements generally declined as employer size increased. The proportion of employees whose pay was set by awards only was highest for those employers with 20-49 employees (33.2%), but then declined as employer size increased. For employers with over 1,000 employees, only 5.6% of employees had their pay set by awards only.