PRICE INDEXES AND CONTRACT PRICE INDEXATION

JUNE KEY FIGURES

			Mar Qtr 2008 to Jun Qtr 2008	Jun Qtr 2007 to Jun Qtr 2008
			% change	% change
Wage Price Index (WPI) Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses Trend(a)
	Australia		1.0	4.1
	Sector
		Private	1.1	4.3
		Public	0.9	3.8
Original
	Australia		0.9	4.2
	Sector
		Private	1.0	4.3
		Public	0.5	3.8
(a) See Explanatory Notes paragraphs 45-46

WPI-Quarterly changes, Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses

WPI-Annual change: original, Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses - For selected industries, Jun Qtr 2008

JUNE KEY POINTS


TOTAL HOURLY RATES OF PAY EXCLUDING BONUSES

QUARTERLY CHANGE (MAR QTR 2008 TO JUN QTR 2008)

• The index for all employee jobs in Australia increased by 1.0%, in trend terms.
• The increases in indexes (in original terms) at the industry level ranged from 0.1% for Communication services to 2.5% for Mining, compared with 0.9% for all industries.

ANNUAL CHANGE (JUN QTR 2007 TO JUN QTR 2008)

• The increase in the trend index through the year to June 2008 for all employee jobs in Australia was 4.1%.
• Increases in the original indexes through the year to June 2008 at the industry level ranged from 2.2% for Accommodation, cafes and restaurants to 6.7% for Mining, compared with 4.2% for all industries.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
September 2008	12 November 2008
December 2008	18 February 2009
March 2009	13 May 2009
June 2009	12 August 2009

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The trend series has been reinstated in this issue following its suspension in the September quarter 2006 edition of the Labour Price Index, Australia. Trend estimates are normally subject to revision as extra quarters are included in the series analysed. From the June quarter 2008 edition of this publication, seasonally adjusted estimates will be derived using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modelling in place of the concurrent seasonal analysis methodology previously used. Adoption of ARIMA modelling will reduce the extent of revisions to the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates. For more information on the details of ARIMA modelling, see feature article: 'Use of ARIMA modelling to reduce revisions' in the October 2004 issue of Australian Economic Indicators (cat. no. 1350.0).

Seasonally adjusted and trend estimates can be found in Table 1 of this publication for recent quarters. Estimates for the period from September quarter 1997 to date can be found on the ABS website in Time Series Spreadsheets Table 1.


CHANGES IN FUTURE ISSUES

The wage price indexes for occupation groups will be discontinued after the release of the September quarter 2008 figures. This data appears in Tables 7 and 8 of this publication and in electronic Tables 7a and 7b on the ABS website. Users of this data who are interested in discussing what other wage price index data are available, can contact David Taylor on (08) 9360 5151 or email labour.price.index@abs.gov.au.


ABS DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Original indexes are compiled for various combinations of state/territory, sector, broad industry group and broad occupation group. Seasonally adjusted and trend indexes are compiled only for total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses for each of the private sector, public sector and all sectors. Indexes not included in this publication may be made available on request by telephoning David Taylor on Perth (08) 9360 5151.


FURTHER INFORMATION

More detailed information on the Labour Price Index (LPI) is available in Labour Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Australia (cat. no. 6351.0.55.001).


INQUIRIES

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