SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


OVERVIEW

This publication contains statistics on the composition and distribution of earnings and hours paid for, of employees, as well as information on how employees' pay is set - by award only, collective agreement or individual arrangement. The statistics are based on the Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours conducted in respect of May 2010.

The diagram below shows the proportion of employees in scope of the May 2010 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, by category of employee.

COMPOSITION AND DISTRIBUTION OF EARNINGS AND HOURS

In May 2010, 50.1% of all employees were male and 49.9% of all employees were female. Average weekly total cash earnings were $1,010.30 for all employees, $1,192.10 for male employees and $827.70 for female employees.

Full-time employees made up 63.3% of all employees and had average weekly total cash earnings of $1,313.30. Part-time employees accounted for 36.7% of all employees and had average weekly total cash earnings of $488.80.

Male employees were predominantly full-time (77.7% of male employees) and full-time males had average weekly total cash earnings of $1,404.40. Part-time male employees had average weekly total cash earnings of $454.50.

Female employment was almost equally split between full-time (48.8%) and part-time (51.2%). Average weekly total cash earnings were $1,167.70 for full-time females and $503.80 for part-time females.

The majority of employees (79.0%) were employed on a permanent or fixed term basis and had average weekly total cash earnings of $1,154.30. Average weekly total cash earnings were $1,332.00 for permanent or fixed term males and $963.40 for permanent or fixed term females.

Casual employees accounted for 21.0% of employees and had average weekly total cash earnings of $468.60. A greater proportion of female employees (23.7%) were casual than were male employees (18.3%). Average weekly total cash earnings were $390.90 for casual females and $568.70 for casual males.

Non-managerial employees were paid for, on average, 31.3 hours per week and received average weekly total cash earnings of $948.90. Non-managerial males, on average, were paid for 34.8 hours per week and received average weekly total cash earnings of $1,113.50. Non-managerial females were paid for, on average, 28.1 hours per week and received average weekly total cash earnings of $794.10.

Permanent full-time non-managerial male employees were paid for, on average, 40.1 hours per week at an hourly cash rate of $33.30 to receive $1,334.20 in average weekly total cash earnings. Permanent full-time non-managerial females were paid for, on average, 37.9 hours per week at an hourly cash rate of $29.70 to receive $1,126.60 in average weekly total cash earnings.

Occupation: Among major occupation groups, Managers had the highest average weekly total cash earnings ($1,848.90) while Sales workers had the lowest ($578.60). Managers comprised 8.9% of all employees and Sales workers comprised 10.8% of all employees. The greatest proportion of employees were Professionals (19.8%) who received average weekly total cash earnings of $1,348.80.

Industry: Average weekly total cash earnings were highest for employees in the Mining industry ($2,206.90), who represented 1.5% of all employees. The lowest average weekly total cash earnings were for employees in the Accommodation and food services industry ($475.60), who represented 7.2% of employees. The greatest proportion of employees were in the Health care and social assistance industry (12.6%) who received average weekly total cash earnings of $932.90.

States and territories: The average weekly total cash earnings of all employees was highest in the Australian Capital Territory ($1,218.20) and lowest in Tasmania ($876.80). The greatest proportion of employees were in New South Wales (31.3%) where average weekly total cash earnings were $1,053.60.


METHODS OF SETTING PAY

Information on the methods of setting pay for employees refers to how the main part of an employee's pay was set in the survey reference period.

Employees classified to 'Award only' had their rate of pay specified by an award and were not paid more than that rate of pay.

Employees classified to the 'Collective agreement' category had the main part of their pay set by collective agreement, or an enterprise award.

Those in the 'Individual arrangement' category include employees who had the main part of their pay set by an individual contract, registered individual agreement (e.g. Australian Workplace Agreement), common law contract, or an agreement to receive over award payments.

Owner managers of incorporated enterprises are presented separately in estimates by method of setting pay.


Proportions of employees

The most common methods of setting pay for all employees in May 2010 were collective agreement (43.4%) and individual arrangement (37.3%). Award only was the least common method of setting pay (15.2%). The remaining 4.1% of employees were owner managers of incorporated enterprises.

For all male employees, the most common method of setting pay was individual arrangement (42.3%), while the most common method of setting pay for all female employees was collective agreement (47.6%).

For full-time employees, the most common method of setting pay was individual arrangement (44.1%). The most common method of setting pay for part-time employees was collective agreement (47.1%).

Collective agreement was the most common method of setting pay for both permanent or fixed term employees (45.1%) and casual employees (36.9%).

Among non-managerial employees, the most common method of setting pay was collective agreement (45.6%). For permanent full-time non-managerial employees, the most common method of setting pay was individual arrangement (45.7%).

Occupation: Among the major occupation groups, the award only method of setting pay was the highest for Community and personal service workers (31.0%), the collective agreement method was highest for Professionals (57.4%) and the individual arrangement method was highest for Managers (55.0%).

Industry: The award only method of setting pay for employees was highest in the Accommodation and food services industry (45.2%). The collective agreement method was highest for the Public administration and safety industry (92.3%). The Professional, scientific and technical services industry had the highest proportion of employees paid by the individual arrangement method (71.4%).

States and territories: Tasmania had the highest proportion of employees whose main method of setting pay was award only (19.8%). The Australian Capital Territory had the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by collective agreement (64.0%) and Western Australia had the highest proportion of employees whose pay was set by individual arrangement (42.0%).


Average weekly total cash earnings

Average weekly total cash earnings for employees who had their pay set by individual arrangement were higher for males than females ($1,323.70 and $912.70 respectively). Similarly, earnings for employees who had their pay set by collective agreement were higher for males ($1,242.80) than females ($891.40). The difference in earnings, however, was significantly less for employees whose pay was set by award only ($566.20 for males and $487.20 for females).

FULL-TIME NON-MANAGERIAL ADULT EMPLOYEES

In May 2010, average weekly total cash earnings were $1,265.70 for full-time non-managerial adult employees ($1,353.50 for male employees and $1,135.80 for female employees). For this category of employee, average weekly total hours paid for were 39.4 hours (40.3 hours for males and 38.0 hours for females). Average hourly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial adult employees was $32.20.

Occupation: Among the major occupation groups, full-time non-managerial adult Machinery operators and drivers had the highest average weekly total hours paid for (43.7 hours) while Professionals had the lowest average weekly total hours paid for (37.8 hours). Managers had the highest average hourly total cash earnings ($42.70) among full-time non-managerial adult employees, and Labourers had the lowest ($24.60).

Industry: Average weekly total hours paid for were highest in the Mining industry (44.3 hours) and lowest in the Education and training industry (37.3 hours). The Mining industry also had the highest average hourly total cash earnings of $49.00. The Accommodation and food services industry had the lowest average hourly total cash earnings of $22.60.

Sector: For full-time non-managerial adult employees, average weekly total hours paid for were higher in the private sector (39.8 hours) than in the public sector (38.0 hours). In contrast, average hourly total cash earnings were higher in the public sector than the private sector ($36.40 and $30.90 respectively).