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LABOUR STATISTICS NEWS


EMPLOYEE EARNINGS AND HOURS

Preliminary results from the 2004 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours were released on 8 December via the ABS web site. This electronic publication (cat. no. 6305.0.55.001) replaces the printed publication (cat. no. 6305.0) released previously. The Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours collected information from a sample of employers about the earnings, hours paid for, method of setting pay, and other selected characteristics of their employees. Final estimates from the survey will be published in Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2004 (cat. no. 6306.0), expected to be released in March 2005.

LABOUR PRICE INDEX

From the September quarter 2004 issue, released on 17 November 2004, Wage Cost Index, Australia (cat. no. 6345.0) will be issued under the title Labour Price Index, Australia. The new name identifies the publication as one of the price indexes produced by the ABS, and also reflects the introduction of non-wage price indexes, in addition to the wage price indexes, and their aggregation into overall labour price indexes. For more information, see the spotlight on the Labour Price Index in this publication.

LABOUR THEME PAGE

The ABS Labour Theme Page provides a guide to the range of ABS statistics on the labour market, as well as links to the latest data released.

RELEASE OF UPDATES TO CONCEPTS SOURCES AND METHODS

Labour Statistics - Concepts, Sources and Methods has been updated further, to coincide with the release of results from the Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours. On December 8, the following chapters were updated: 2, 12, 24 and 26. Additional chapters will be updated in 2005 and these will be announced in subsequent issues of this publication.

IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTER ASSISTED INTERVIEWING

Computer assisted interviewing (CAI) was progressively implemented into the Labour Force Survey (LFS) between October 2003 and August 2004. A Technical Report in this issue of Australian Labour Market Statistics outlines the analyses that were conducted on each month's data to monitor the implementation. These analyses confirmed that the change in interview method has not materially affected the aggregate estimates for any month.

SUPPLEMENTARY SURVEYS ON LABOUR TOPICS

The Monthly Population Survey comprises the Labour Force Survey and a range of supplementary surveys, which provide detailed information on a range of topics. Results from the survey on education and work were recently released in Education and Work, Australia (cat. no. 6227.0). The results of this survey are outlined in the Recent Release section of this publication.

ABS EMAIL NOTIFICATION SERVICE

By subscribing to this free service, you will be kept informed via email of the latest releases of ABS products. To subscribe, follow the link from the ABS home page <https://www.abs.gov.au>, provide your email address, and select your topics of interest.

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

This issue of Australian Labour Market Statistics reflects the renaming of the Wage Cost Index as the Wage Price Index (which is part of the broader Labour Price Index).

In addition to presenting participation rates for all persons aged 15 years and older, this issue presents participation rates for persons aged 15-64 years in the Key Measures table of the Labour Market Summary.

Recent and upcoming statistical releases
Release date/title of publication		Reference period	Catalogue number
December 2004
	Education and Work, Australia	May 2004	6227.0
	Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, Preliminary	May 2004	6305.0.55.001
	Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia	2002-03	6523.0
	Industrial Disputes, Australia	September quarter 2004	6321.0.55.001
	Labour Force, Australia	November 2004	6202.0
	Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery	November 2004	6291.0.55.001
	Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia	April 2004	6281.0
January 2005
	Australian Labour Market Statistics	January 2005	6105.0
	Experimental Estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas, Taxation and Income Support Data	1995-96 to 2000-01	6524.0
	Job Search Experience, Australia	July 2004	6222.0
	Job Vacancies, Australia	November 2004	6354.0
	Labour Force, Australia	December 2004	6202.0
	Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery	December 2004	6291.0.55.001
	Wage and Salary Earners, Public Sector, Australia	September quarter 2004	6248.0.55.001
	Year Book Australia	2005	1301.0
February 2005
	2006 Census of Population and Housing: Nature and Content	2006	2008.0
	Average Weekly Earnings, Australia	November 2004	6302.0
	Labour Force, Australia	January 2005	6202.0
	Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery	January 2005	6291.0.55.001
	Labour Price Index, Australia	December quarter 2004	6345.0
March 2005
	Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia	August 2004	6310.0
	Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia	May 2004	6306.0
	Industrial Disputes, Australia	December quarter 2004	6321.0.55.001
	Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Standard Errors	2005	6298.0
	Informing a Nation: the Evolution of the Australian Bureau of Statistics	2005	1382.0
	Job Vacancies, Australia	February 2005	6354.0
	Labour Force, Australia	February 2005	6202.0
	Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery	February 2005	6291.0.55.001
	Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia	September 2004	6220.0
	Underemployed Workers, Australia	September 2004	6265.0
	Wage and Salary Earners, Public Sector, Australia	December quarter 2004	6248.0.55.001
April 2005
	Australian Labour Market Statistics	April 2005	6105.0
	Characteristics of Small Businesses, Australia	2004	8127.0
	Labour Force, Australia	March 2005	6202.0
	Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery	March 2005	6291.0.55.001
	Measures of Australia's Progress	April 2005	1370.0.55.001

ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS

The spreadsheets and data cubes referenced in this publication are available on the ABS web site at <https://www.abs.gov.au> [AusStats - Publications and Data], then [Data Cubes] or [Time Series Spreadsheets].

INQUIRIES

For information about other Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistics and services, please refer to the back of this publication.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or the Assistant Director, Labour Market, on Canberra (02) 6252 7636.

LABOUR MARKET SUMMARY


KEY MEASURES

						% change from
Measure			Series type	Period	Current figure	Previous quarter(a)	Previous year(b)
Employed
	Persons	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	9,770.7	0.8	2.5
	Full-time	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	6,995.1	0.6	2.5
	Part-time	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	2,775.6	1.2	2.3
	Part-time employment as a proportion of total employment	%	Trend	Nov 2004	28.4	(c)0.1	(c)-0.1
Unemployed
	Persons	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	548.6	-3.6	-6.5
	Looking for full-time work	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	384.5	-5.4	-10.5
	Looking for part-time work	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	164.1	1.0	4.5
Unemployment rate
	Persons	%	Trend	Nov 2004	5.3	(c)-0.2	(c)-0.5
Long-term unemployment
	Persons	'000	Trend	Nov 2004	109.9	-7.2	-11.4
	As a proportion of total unemployment	%	Trend	Nov 2004	20.0	(c)-0.8	(c)-1.1
Annual labour underutilisation rates(d)
	Long-term unemployment rate	%	Original	Sep 2003	1.3	na	(c)-0.1
	Unemployment rate	%	Original	Sep 2003	5.9	na	(c)-0.5
	Underemployment rate	%	Original	Sep 2003	5.6	na	(c)-0.2
	Labour force underutilisation rate	%	Original	Sep 2003	11.5	na	(c)-0.6
	Extended labour force underutilisation rate	%	Original	Sep 2003	12.5	na	(c)-0.7
Children living without an employed parent(e)		%	Original	Jun 2004	17.2	na	(c)0.1
Labour force participation rate
	Persons aged 15-64 years	%	Original	Nov 2004	74.3	(c)0.8	(c)0.3
	Total persons	%	Trend	Nov 2004	63.7	(c)0.1	(c)0.3
Actual hours worked
	Aggregate weekly hours	mill. hours	Original	Nov 2004	338.2	1.7	2.3
	Average weekly hours - Persons	hours	Original	Nov 2004	34.6	-0.5	-0.4
	Average weekly hours - Full-time	hours	Original	Nov 2004	41.7	-0.5	-0.5
	Average weekly hours - Part-time	hours	Original	Nov 2004	16.5	-1.4	0.2
Part-time workers
	Proportion who preferred to work more hours	%	Original	Nov 2004	26.0	(c)-0.1	(c)-1.6
Wage price index
	Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses	index no.	Trend	Sept qtr 2004	102.1	0.8	3.4
Average weekly earnings
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	$	Trend	Aug 2004	960.00	0.7	3.2
	All employees total earnings	$	Trend	Aug 2004	756.30	0.5	2.8
Compensation of employees
	Household income account	$m	Trend	Sept qtr 2004	98,314	1.5	6.2
	Average earnings (National Accounts basis - nominal) per week	$	Trend	Sept qtr 2004	883	0.5	2.8
Industrial disputes
	Working days lost	'000	Original	Sept qtr 2004	93.3	-39.5	-43.8
	Working days lost per 1,000 employees	number	Original	Sept qtr 2004	11.3	-38.3	-44.5
Job vacancies
	Australia	'000	Trend	Aug 2004	124.7	4.1	20.0
na not available
(a) Same period previous quarter (monthly data is presented for the middle month of each quarter).
(b) Same period previous year.
(c) Change is in percentage points.
(d) See table 4.1 or the Glossary for further explanation of labour underutilisation rates.
(e) As a proportion of all children aged under 15 years. See the Explanatory Notes for information on family data.

EMPLOYMENT: TREND SERIES

Full-time and total employment

Males and females

Proportion of total employment, Males

Proportion of total employment, Females

Males and females

Proportion of total unemployment

Labour underutilisation rates - 1994-2003

Persons

Males

Females

Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, Quarterly change

Full-time adult ordinary time earnings, Quarterly change

All employees total earnings, Level

Working days lost, Quarter ending

Job vacancies, By sector