NAME OF COLLECTION
Wage Cost Index, Australia
Contact
Contact Officer
Labour Cost Indexes WA
Australian Bureau of Statistics
GPO Box K881
PERTH WA 6842
Telephone: Perth (08) 9360 5151
Facsimile: Perth (08) 9360 5954
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au
Internet: www.abs.gov.au
Purpose
To provide a key measure of the changes over time in the price of labour.
The survey results are used in formulating industrial relations and wages policies, economic analysis and contract adjustment.
Description
The Wage Cost Index (WCI) ia an input price index designed to measure changes in price over time of a fixed level of labour input.
The WCI measures changes in the price of the wage and salary component of labour services, by measuring changes in the hourly rates of pay.
As the WCI holds constant the quantity and quality of labour input, movements in the WCI are pure price movements.
Index numbers in the WCI measure changes in hourly rates of pay between the base period (September Qtr 1997 = 100.0) and a later period. Index numbers cannot be compared across States as they do not provide comparative information on levels of hourly rates of pay.Similarly, index numbers cannot be compared across sectors, industries or occupations.
The usefulness of index numbers stems from the fact that index numbers for any two periods can be used to directly calculate the change or movement in hourly rates of pay between the two periods. These movements can be compared across States; sectors, industries or occupations.
Sample design:
A two stage probability sampling procedure is used to generate a sample of employee jobs for the WCI. In the first stage of sampling, a random sample of approximately 3500 public and private sector employers is chosen from the ABS Business Register. In the second stage of sampling, a random sample of approximately 19,000 jobs is selected from the payrolls of the selected employers.
Data detail
Published Indexes:
- Indexes of total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, Sector by industry (ANZSIC Division); and
- Indexes of ordinary time hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, Sector by industry (ANZSIC Division)
Unpublished Indexes
- Indexes of total hourly rates of pay including bonuses; and
- Indexes of ordinary time hourly rates of pay including bonuses.
As Tourism cuts across a number of different industries and as the WCI is only available at the ANZSIC Division level, data relevant to Tourism may include the following industries:
- Accomodation,cafes and restuarants
- Cultural and recreational services; and
- Transport and storage.
Geographic coverage
Australia, State/Territory
Frequency of data availability
Quarterly
Historical data
Data is available from the quarter ending Dec 1997.(base quarter is the quarter ending September 1997 where the index value = 100.0). For historical series please see Award Rates of Pay Indexes (ABS cat. no. 6312.0) 1939-1997.Please note redefined series.
Publications
Other
- Time series data service through subscription service only
- Special data service available for unpublished data on request
PC Ausstats
- Internet: https://www.abs.gov.au
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