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SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

			Aug 2005	May 2005 to Aug 2005	Aug 2004 to Aug 2005
			'000	% change	% change
PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES
	Trend estimates
		Commonwealth Government	251.5	0.5	2.0
		State Government	1 192.0	0.7	2.3
		Local Government	168.2	0.9	3.9
		Total Public Sector	1 611.7	0.7	2.4
	Seasonally Adjusted estimates
		Commonwealth Government	251.2	0.1	1.6
		State Government	1 194.0	0.6	2.6
		Local Government	167.3	-0.5	3.0
		Total Public Sector	1 612.5	0.4	2.5

			Sep Qtr 2005	Jun Qtr 2005 to Sep Qtr 2005	Sep Qtr 2004 to Sep Qtr 2005
			$m	% change	% change
PUBLIC SECTOR GROSS EARNINGS
	Original estimates
		Commonwealth Government	3 647.6	-8.0	8.3
		State Government	15 408.7	-1.2	6.5
		Local Government	1 753.5	4.9	8.6
		Total Public Sector	20 809.8	-2.0	7.0

Public sector employees

• From August 2004 to August 2005 the number of public sector employees increased by 37,600 (2.4%) to 1,611,700
• In the same period the number of employees increased in local government by 3.9%, state government by 2.3% and in Commonwealth government by 2.0%.

The ABS has introduced concurrent seasonal adjustment to the Survey of Employment and Earnings (SEE), replacing the forward factor adjustment method previously used to produce seasonally adjusted estimates. Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses original data up to and including the current quarter to update seasonal factors each quarter, whereas the forward factor adjustment method only updates seasonal factors annually.

By increasing the frequency of seasonal reanalyses from annually to quarterly, concurrent seasonal adjustment produces initial seasonally adjusted estimates that are closer on average to their final values, as any changes in seasonality are picked up sooner. See paragraphs 17 to 20 of the Explanatory Notes for more information on the concurrent seasonal adjustment method.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Peta Sheehan on Perth (08) 9360 5141.

TABLES

1. PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES, Level of government - States & territories
	May 2005				August 2005
	C'wealth	State	Local	Total	C'wealth	State	Local	Total
	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000
Trend
New South Wales	59.6	372.3	51.1	483.0	59.8	370.5	51.2	481.5
Victoria	56.9	262.2	39.1	358.2	57.0	266.1	39.5	362.6
Queensland	32.6	242.4	41.6	316.6	32.5	245.4	42.7	320.6
South Australia	14.8	100.8	10.1	125.7	15.0	101.8	10.3	127.1
Western Australia	15.9	132.1	17.2	165.2	16.0	134.0	17.1	167.1
Tasmania	6.1	35.2	na	45.6	6.2	35.7	na	46.1
Northern Territory	3.4	19.7	na	26.5	3.4	19.8	na	26.5
Australian Capital Territory	60.9	19.0	. .	79.9	61.6	18.7	. .	80.3
Australia	250.2	1 183.7	166.7	1 600.6	251.5	1 192.0	168.2	1 611.7
Seasonally Adjusted
New South Wales	59.5	370.7	51.0	481.2	60.0	371.7	51.3	483.0
Victoria	57.1	262.8	39.4	359.3	56.6	266.3	39.2	362.1
Queensland	32.8	242.8	42.0	317.6	32.4	246.7	42.6	321.7
South Australia	14.8	102.2	10.0	127.0	15.0	101.8	10.4	127.2
Western Australia	16.0	133.5	17.2	166.7	16.0	133.8	17.0	166.8
Tasmania	6.2	35.3	na	45.6	6.2	35.9	na	46.2
Northern Territory	3.5	19.8	na	26.8	3.4	19.8	na	26.3
Australian Capital Territory	61.0	19.7	. .	80.7	61.6	18.0	. .	79.6
Australia	250.9	1 186.8	168.2	1 605.9	251.2	1 194.0	167.3	1 612.5
Original
New South Wales	60.0	375.4	51.2	486.6	59.8	375.3	50.8	486.0
Victoria	56.7	266.2	39.5	362.4	56.4	268.3	38.7	363.4
Queensland	32.9	245.1	41.6	319.6	32.2	249.3	42.9	324.4
South Australia	14.7	102.9	10.0	127.6	15.0	102.4	10.5	127.9
Western Australia	16.1	134.1	17.5	167.6	16.0	135.0	16.6	167.6
Tasmania	6.1	36.0	4.2	46.2	6.2	36.6	4.0	46.8
Northern Territory	3.6	20.0	3.5	27.0	3.4	19.8	3.2	26.3
Australian Capital Territory	61.4	19.9	. .	81.3	61.5	18.3	. .	79.8
Australia	251.4	1 199.6	167.3	1 618.3	250.5	1 205.0	166.7	1 622.2
. . not applicable
na not available

2. PUBLIC SECTOR GROSS EARNINGS, Level of government - States & territories: Original
	June Quarter 2005				September Quarter 2005
	C'wealth	State	Local	Total	C'wealth	State	Local	Total
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
New South Wales	916.8	5 302.9	566.8	6 786.5	847.2	5 310.6	595.3	6 753.2
Victoria	900.3	3 277.4	340.3	4 517.9	837.7	3 205.2	360.6	4 403.4
Queensland	485.1	3 111.8	436.7	4 033.7	437.8	3 201.3	464.3	4 103.5
South Australia	224.5	1 251.3	107.6	1 583.4	205.4	1 272.8	118.2	1 596.4
Western Australia	228.2	1 643.6	160.9	2 032.6	205.6	1 508.9	156.5	1 871.0
Tasmania	90.4	422.1	39.9	552.5	80.3	418.5	39.9	538.7
Northern Territory	51.6	297.3	19.1	367.9	46.7	259.5	18.6	324.8
Australian Capital Territory	1 066.5	289.6	. .	1 356.2	986.9	232.0	. .	1 218.9
Australia	3 963.5	15 596.0	1 671.2	21 230.7	3 647.6	15 408.7	1 753.5	20 809.8
. . not applicable

3. PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES AND GROSS EARNINGS, Industry: Original
	Employees		Gross earnings
	May 2005	August 2005	June Quarter 2005	September Quarter 2005
	'000	'000	$m	$m
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	3.4	3.3	44.7	41.9
Manufacturing	5.0	5.0	87.9	91.9
Electricity, gas and water supply	43.4	43.8	763.5	828.1
Construction	4.5	3.8	61.9	53.2
Transport and storage	40.9	40.4	681.3	762.7
Communication services	74.6	np	1 124.1	np
Finance and insurance	10.3	10.5	165.4	180.9
Property and business services	28.6	28.4	467.5	434.2
Government administration and defence	419.7	431.4	5 564.5	5 491.4
Education	499.6	498.7	5 917.5	5 489.1
Health and community services	351.2	346.2	4 361.6	4 503.8
Cultural and recreational services	28.0	28.3	379.0	355.1
Personal and other services	108.1	107.4	1 601.7	1 510.1
All industries(a)	1 618.3	1 622.2	21 230.7	20 809.8
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Includes Mining, Wholesale trade, Retail trade and Accommodation, cafes and restaurants.