Growth in average wages increases

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Released
15/08/2019
Source
Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, May 2019

The average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults in Australia in May 2019 was $1,634 (trend), according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today.

Average full-time earnings increased by $27 (1.7 per cent) over the previous six months and by $48 over the year (3.0 per cent).

Bruce Hockman, Chief Economist at the ABS, said: "This latest compositional data points to a pick up in average earnings growth."

Mr Hockman said that this latest data comes after a period of low growth in average weekly earnings, which partly reflected the growing number of lower earning workers in the services sector, including aged care, childcare and disability care workers.

Over the past five years, average full-time earnings remained highest in the ACT ($1,811) and Western Australia ($1,780), and lowest in Tasmania ($1,420) and South Australia ($1,475). The highest increases in average full-time earnings over the five years were in the Northern Territory (18.1 per cent) and Victoria (16.0 per cent), which were both well above the increase in the average for Australia (12.3 per cent).

1. Picture showing AWE for May 2014, May 2019 and the percentage increase for each state and territory.
This image shows a coloured map of Australia which reveals the states and territories average full time earnings in May 2014 and May 2019, and the percentage increase between the 5 years. The North Territory average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1426 while May 2019 was $1683. This was a percentage increase of 18.1%. Western Australia's average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1641 while May 2019 was $1780. This was a percentage increase of 8.4%. South Australia's average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1353 while May 2019 was $1475. This was a percentage increase of 9.0%. Queensland's average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1440 while May 2019 was $1582. This was a percentage increase of 9.9% New South Wales average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1458 while May 2019 was $1661. This was a percentage increase of 13.9%. The Australian Capital Territory average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1670 while May 2019 was $1811. This was a percentage increase of 8.5%. Victoria's average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1386 while May 2019 was $1608. This was a percentage increase of 16.0% Tasmania's average full-time earnings in May 2014 was $1253 while in May 2019 was $1420. This was a percentage increase of 13.3%. The average full-time earnings across Australia in May 2014 was $1455 while in May 2019 was $1634. This was a overall percentage increase of 12.3%.

Further details are available in Average Weekly Earnings, May 2019 (cat. no. 6302.0), available for free download from the ABS website http://www.abs.gov.au.

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