DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Quarter		Year ended
		September 2013	December 2013	December 2012	December 2013
Number of disputes
	Commenced in period (no.)	54	53	197	215
	Total (no.)	65	58	204	219
Employees involved
	Newly involved ('000)	18.6	56.9	142.8	132.0
	Total ('000)	19.7	57.3	143.3	132.2
Working days lost ('000)		23.0	36.1	273.2	131.0

Source(s): Industrial Disputes, Australia

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


QUARTERLY ESTIMATES

• In the December quarter 2013 there were 58 industrial disputes, seven fewer than in the September quarter 2013.
• The number of employees involved in industrial disputes in the December quarter 2013 was 57,300, an increase from 19,700 in the September quarter 2013.
• There were 36,100 working days lost due to industrial disputation in the December quarter 2013, an increase from 23,000 in the September quarter 2013.
• The combined Education and training and Health care and social assistance industries (17,800) accounted for 49% of the total number of working days lost in the December quarter 2013.
• In the December quarter 2013, New South Wales accounted for 18,400 (51%) of the working days lost.

YEAR ENDED ESTIMATES

• During the year ended December 2013, there were 219 disputes, 15 more than in the year ended December 2012.
• During the year ended December 2013, there were 131,000 working days lost, compared with 273,200 in the year ended December 2012.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2014	5 June 2014
June 2014	4 September 2014

REVIEW OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES STATISTICS

The ABS has conducted a review of the Industrial Disputes statistics presented in this publication. Since the last comprehensive review in 1999 there have been a number of changes to industrial relations legislation and, more generally, the structure of the labour market and nature of working arrangements have also changed considerably. An important element of the review was to understand the contemporary and potential future data requirements of users. The first phase of the review has been completed and the recommendations were discussed by the ABS Labour Statistics Advisory Group on 22 November 2013. The ABS is now investigating the operational impacts of implementing the recommendations. Once the outcomes from the operational phase are finalised, information about any changes to the Industrial Disputes statistics will be communicated to users, primarily through notes in this publication.

If you would like further information about the review, please contact Manpreet Singh on (08) 9360 5916.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.