DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Quarter		Year ended
		September 2014	December 2014	December 2013	December 2014
Number of disputes
	Commenced in period (no.)	45	52	215	187
	Total (no.)	55	57	219	188
Employees involved
	Newly involved ('000)	18.5	12.0	132.0	55.5
	Total ('000)	18.9	19.8	132.2	55.6
Working days lost ('000)		24.6	16.9	131.0	71.4

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


QUARTERLY ESTIMATES

• In December quarter 2014, there were 57 disputes, two more than in September quarter 2014.
• The number of employees involved in industrial disputes in December quarter 2014 was 19,800, an increase from 18,900 in September quarter 2014.
• There were 16,900 working days lost due to industrial disputation in December quarter 2014, a decrease from 24,600 in September quarter 2014.
• Victoria (9,500) had the highest number of working days lost of any state or territory in December quarter 2014, accounting for 56% of total working days lost. Victoria also had the highest number of working days lost per thousand employees (3.7) for the quarter.

YEAR ENDED ESTIMATES

• During the year ended December 2014, there were 188 disputes, 31 fewer than the year ended December 2013.
• Over the same period, there were 71,400 working days lost, 45% fewer than in the year ended December 2013 (131,000).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2015	4 June 2015
June 2015	3 September 2015

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 ABS has completed an assessment of the operational impact of implementing the recommendations from the 2013 Conceptual Review and the findings have been circulated to the ABS Labour Statistics Advisory Group for consideration. The ABS will outline future directions for the Industrial Disputes statistics in the March quarter 2015 issue.

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


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