AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

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Statistical Local Areas With Highest Average Wage and Salary Income
Wage and Salary Earners By Occupation
Wage and Salary Earners By Wage and Salary Income
Wage and Salary Earners By Sex
Wage and Salary Earners By Age
Total Income of Wage and Salary Earners




STATISTICAL LOCAL AREAS WITH HIGHEST AVERAGE WAGE AND SALARY INCOME


In 2003-04, the average wage and salary income of wage and salary earners in the Australian Capital Territory was the highest in Australia at $44,664, followed by New South Wales with an average wage and salary income of $41,407 and the Northern Territory at $40,027.

In the Australian Capital Territory, the Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) with the highest average wage and salary incomes were generally located in south Canberra, with the exception of City SLA. Of these southern SLAs, Red Hill had the highest average wage and salary income at $59,014, followed by Forrest and Griffith at $59,004 and $58,379 respectively. These three SLAs were ranked 12th, 13th and 15th on the list of SLAs with the highest average wage and salary incomes nationally.

This article focuses on the five SLAs in the Australian Capital Territory with the highest average wage and salary incomes that had 100 or more wage and salary earners in 2003-04. To view images of these SLAs via Google Maps Australia please click on the following links: Red Hill, Forrest, Griffith, City and Barton.

			Wage and salary earners	Wage and salary income	Average wage and salary income
SLA Name			No.	$	$
Red Hill			1,482	87,459,192	59,014
Forrest			585	34,517,171	59,004
Griffith			1,902	111,036,564	58,379
City			358	19,995,774	55,854
Barton			200	11,167,231	55,836
Australian Capital Territory			154,233	6,888,606,091	44,664

Source: ATO Income Tax Data



WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY OCCUPATION


Overall, the Australian Capital Territory had the highest proportion of wage and salary earners not stating their occupations of any state or territory. Of the SLAs with the highest average wage and salary incomes in the Australian Capital Territory, City and Barton had the highest proportion of wage and salary earners not stating their occupations at over 30%. Around 25% of wage and salary earners did not state their occupations in Red Hill, Forrest and Griffith.

The occupations of employment most commonly stated by wage and salary earners in these SLAs, were Professionals, Intermediate clerical and service workers and Managers and administrators. Between 25% and 29% of wage and salary earners indicated that they worked as Professionals, between 14% and 16% indicated they worked as Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers and around 10% worked as Managers and administrators. Overall, employment in these three occupations accounted for between 48% to 55% of the wage and salary earners in these SLAs, compared to 46% across the Australian Capital Territory.

	Manag- ers and admini- strators	Profess- ionals	Associ- ate prof- ession- als	Trades- persons and related workers	Advanc- ed clerical and service workers	Interme- diate clerical, sales and service workers	Interme- diate product- ion and transport workers	Element- ary clerical, sales and service workers	Labour- ers and related workers	Not stated
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Red Hill	10.6	28.4	7.2	2.4	2.6	15.7	0.9	5.0	2.2	25.1
Forrest	10.7	28.6	7.2	2.8	2.2	15.8	0.9	5.0	1.5	25.3
Griffith	10.0	27.6	7.0	2.5	2.4	15.7	1.2	5.0	2.3	26.3
City	8.8	25.3	6.3	3.0	1.9	14.0	0.0	4.7	2.8	33.1
Barton	9.1	25.8	6.6	0.0	2.5	14.6	2.5	3.0	2.5	33.3
Australian Capital Territory	6.1	22.0	7.3	5.4	2.1	17.7	2.4	8.3	3.4	25.3

Source: ATO Income Tax Data.



WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY WAGE AND SALARY INCOME RANGES


In Red Hill, Forrest, Griffith, City and Barton, around 20% of wage and salary earners had a wage and salary income of $78,000 or more. This was around double the Australian Capital Territory proportion of wage and salary earners in this income range of 10%. These SLAs also had a high proportion of wage and salary earners with an income of $52,000 to less than $78,000 at over 20%.

	$1 to less than $10,400	$10,400 to less than $20,800	$20,800 to less than $31,200	$31,200 to less than $41,600	$41,600 to less than $52,000	$52,000 to less than $78,000	$78,000 or more
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Red Hill	10.3	10.9	9.9	11.8	12.5	22.5	22.1
Forrest	10.3	10.9	9.9	11.8	12.6	22.4	22.1
Griffith	9.7	10.8	10.0	11.9	13.0	22.9	21.7
City	8.9	10.1	12.8	11.5	14.0	23.2	19.6
Barton	8.5	10.0	13.0	11.5	14.0	23.0	20.0
Australian Capital Territory	10.6	11.7	13.1	14.9	16.0	23.2	10.4

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Source: ATO Income Tax Data.



WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY SEX


The Australian Capital Territory was the only state or territory in Australia where the proportion of male wage and salary earners was not greater than the proportion of female wage and salary earners. In the Australian Capital Territory there were equal proportions of male and female wage and salary earners. This may reflect the different employment opportunities available within the territory.

The Australian Capital Territory had the highest proportion of persons working as Professionals in Australia, an occupation which typically has more female employees than male employees. It also had the lowest proportions of persons working as Tradespersons and related workers, Intermediate production and transport workers and Labourers and related workers in Australia, occupations which are typically male dominated.

While across the Australian Capital Territory there were equal proportions of male and female wage and salary earners, the Australian Capital Territory SLAs with the highest average wage and salary incomes in 2003-04 tended to have slightly higher proportions of male wage and salary earners than female wage and salary earners. Of these SLAs, Barton had the highest proportion of male wage and salary earners at 53%.




WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS BY AGE


A common characteristic of these high income SLAs was an above the territory average proportion of wage and salary earners aged 45 years and over. In these high income SLAs between 35% and 39% of wage and salary earners were in this age range, compared to 33% state wide.

Of these SLAs, Barton and City had the highest proportion of wage and salary earners in the younger age groups with 45% of the wage and salary earner population aged 15 to 34 years. In Red Hill, Forrest and Griffith around 40% of wage and salary earners were in this age group, compared to 45% across the Australian Capital Territory.

	15-24 years	25-34 years	35-44 years	45-54 years	55 years and over
SLA Name	%	%	%	%	%
Red Hill	17.4	23.5	20.4	23.3	15.2
Forrest	17.4	23.5	20.5	23.2	15.4
Griffith	17.0	25.0	21.3	22.6	14.1
City	20.1	25.1	19.8	22.6	12.5
Barton	20.0	25.0	20.0	22.5	12.5
Australian Capital Territory	19.4	25.1	23.0	21.8	10.7

Source: ATO Income Tax Data.

TOTAL INCOME OF WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS

The total income of wage and salary earners relates to their wage and salary income in addition to any income or loss from sources such as investments, superannuation and annuities, own unincorporated businesses and government cash benefits.

In 2003-04, the SLAs in the Australian Capital Territory with the highest average wage and salary incomes all had a greater difference between their average total income and average wage and salary income than the territory average difference. Of these SLAs, employees in Red Hill had the highest average difference at $5,248, followed by employees in Forrest at $5,247.

			Average wage and salary income	Average total income	Average total income less Average wage and salary income
SLA Name			$	$	$
Red Hill			59,014	64,262	5,248
Forrest			59,004	64,251	5,247
Griffith			58,379	63,069	4,690
City			55,854	60,368	4,514
Barton			55,836	60,348	4,512
Australian Capital Territory			44,664	46,949	2,285

Source: ATO Income Tax Data



To access wage and salary data for all SLAs in Australia click on the following link to Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics, Australia - Data Cubes, 2003-04 (cat. no. 5673.0.55.003).