MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Quarter		Year ended
		December 2013	March 2014	March 2013	March 2014
Number of disputes
	Commenced in period (no.)	53	36	212	200
	Total (no.)	58	37	218	204
Employees involved
	Newly involved ('000)	56.9	5.6	183.2	90.9
	Total ('000)	57.3	5.7	184.7	92.0
Working days lost ('000)		36.1	9.7	289.5	88.6

Source(s): Working days lost, Australia-graph

MARCH KEY POINTS


QUARTERLY ESTIMATES

• In March quarter 2014 there were 37 disputes, 21 fewer than in the December quarter 2013.
• The number of employees involved in industrial disputes in March quarter 2014 was 5,700, a 90.1% decrease from 57,300 in December quarter 2013.
• There were 9,700 working days lost due to industrial disputation in March quarter 2014, a decrease from 36,100 in the December quarter 2013.
• Education and training; Health care and social assistance (3,800) had the highest number of working days lost by industry, accounting for 39.0% of total working days lost.
• Victoria (4,800) had the highest number of working days lost of any state or territory, accounting for 49.9% of total working days lost. The Northern Territory had the highest number of working days lost per thousand employees (7.7) for the quarter.

YEAR ENDED ESTIMATES

• During the year ended March 2014, there were 204 disputes, 14 fewer than in the year ended March 2013.
• Over the same period, there were 88,600 working days lost, less than a third as many as in the year ended March 2013 (289,500).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2014	4 September 2014
September 2014	4 December 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 at 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.