DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

			Sep Qtr 2009 to Dec Qtr 2009	Dec Qtr 2008 to Dec Qtr 2009
			% change	% change
Wage Price Index (WPI) Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses Trend(a)
	Australia		0.6	3.0
	Sector
		Private	0.6	2.6
		Public	1.0	4.2
Original
	Australia		0.7	2.9
	Sector
		Private	0.5	2.5
		Public	1.0	4.1
(a) See Explanatory Notes paragraphs 46-47, 50

WPI-Quarterly changes: Trend (a), Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses

WPI - Annual change: original, Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses - For selected industries, Dec Qtr 2009

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TOTAL HOURLY RATES OF PAY EXCLUDING BONUSES

QUARTERLY CHANGE (SEP QTR 2009 TO DEC QTR 2009)

• The index for all employee jobs in Australia increased by 0.6%, in trend terms.
• The increases in indexes (in original terms) at the industry level ranged from 0.2% for Accommodation and food services; Rental, hiring and real estate services; and Professional, scientific and technical services to 1.2% for Electricity, gas, water and waste services.

ANNUAL CHANGE (DEC QTR 2008 TO DEC QTR 2009)

• The increase in the trend index through the year to December quarter 2009 for all employee jobs in Australia was 3.0%.
• Increases in the original indexes through the year to December quarter 2009 at the industry level ranged from 1.9% for Accommodation and food services; Rental, hiring and real estate services; and Administrative and support services to 4.0% for Transport, postal and warehousing.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2010	19 May 2010
June 2010	18 August 2010
September 2010	17 November 2010
December 2010	23 February 2011

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

From the December quarter 2009, data are no longer collected from micro businesses. Micro businesses are businesses with an employment size of 0-4. See paragraph 22 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail. The introduction of this change does not impact what the LPI measures.

The distribution of employers' expenditure on wages and salaries, as provided in Appendix 1, is updated in the December quarter each year. An explanation of the use of employers' expenditure data is provided in paragraphs 30 and 31 of the Explanatory Notes. The December quarter 2009 update has sourced estimates from the 2008 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours to ensure the most contemporary information on employer expenditure patterns is used in the compilation of the wage price index. Previous updates have sourced estimates from the Major Labour Costs Survey.


NEW INDEX REFERENCE BASE

From the September quarter 2009, all index numbers have been calculated on a new reference base of 2008-09, that is, the numbers in each index series have been reset to equal 100.0 for the financial year 2008-09. Period-to-period percentage changes may differ slightly to those previously published due to re-referencing and rounding. These differences do not constitute a revision. See Appendix 2 for more detail.


ABS DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Original indexes are compiled for various combinations of state/territory, sector and broad industry group. Indexes not included in this publication may be made available on request by telephoning Kathryn Parlor on Perth (08) 9360 5151 or email labour.price.index@abs.gov.au.


DATA REFERENCES

Data referenced in the Key Points and Commentary are available from the tables shown in this publication or in the corresponding tables of this publication on the ABS website <https://www.abs.gov.au>.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Kathryn Parlor on Perth (08) 9360 5151.