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AUSTRALIA

This electronic release contains estimates of the characteristics of wage and salary earners for each state and territory of Australia for the year 2000-01. Data are included for smaller geographical areas within states/territories.

Estimates of the total number of wage and salary earners and their average wage and salary income by Local Government Area (LGA), (Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) for the Australian Capital Territory), are presented in the Summary of Findings below. Data for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas are also included. These areas align with the various levels of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC).

The statistics have been compiled from the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) Individual Income Tax Return Database and are part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) program to increase the range of regional data available to users of regional statistics, particularly through the use of administrative information from other government agencies. The ABS wishes to acknowledge the support the ATO has provided in compiling these statistics.

All individual income tax statistics provided to the ABS by the ATO have been in aggregated form only, at the Statistical Local Area (SLA) level. No information about individual taxpayers has been released to the ABS.

Various cross-tabulations of characteristics such as age, sex, occupation, wage and salary income and total income for the wage and salary earner population can be accessed through the attached data cubes. Most of these tables are available by SLA and are in the form of Excel spreadsheets.

It should be noted that the data presented here do not take account of whether wage and salary earners work on a full-time or part-time basis. Consequently, differences in the extent of part-time work may account for some differences in average wage and salary incomes across regions. Similarly, averages may be affected by overtime earnings and multiple job holdings. Further definitional details are contained in the Explanatory Notes.

For further information about these statistics, contact Mark Nowosilskyj on (08) 8237 7358 or mark.now@abs.gov.au, or call the National Information Service on 1300 135 070.


SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

For the financial year 2000-01, the average individual annual wage and salary income for wage and salary earners in Australia was $34,745. This was an increase of 4.2% over the previous year ($33,341) and a 21.9% increase on the average in 1995-96 ($28,494). The average annual rate of increase over the last five years has been 4.0%.

Total wage and salary income paid to Australia's wage and salary earners increased from $247.9 billion in 1999-00 to $259.6 billion in 2000-01, an increase of 4.7%. This was slightly lower than the annual average rate of increase for the last five years (4.9%). For the period 1995-96 to 2000-01 the overall increase was 27.1% (up from $204.2 billion in 1995-96). Over the same period the number of wage and salary earners have increased by 4.3%, from approximately 7.17 million persons in 1995-96 to just over 7.47 million persons in 2000-01.


METROPOLITAN AND NON-METROPOLITAN AUSTRALIA

In 2000-01, three-quarters of Australia's wage and salary earners resided in metropolitan areas (5.58 million persons). This proportion has increased slightly since 1995-96, from 74.0% to 74.7%. In comparison, 71.8% of Australia's total population aged 15 years and over at 30 June 1996 and 72.0% at 30 June 2001 resided in metropolitan areas.

Average wage and salary incomes for persons in metropolitan Australia are higher than those paid to employees in non-metropolitan areas, and the difference is widening. In 1995-96 the average wage and salary income for employees in metropolitan Australia was $29,500 compared with an average of $25,565 for those in non-metropolitan areas, a difference of $3,935 or 15.4%. In 2000-01, the average for metropolitan Australia had increased to $36,156, or $5,643 (18.5%) above the average for employees in non-metropolitan Australia ($30,513). Overall, the average annual growth rate over the last five years for average wage and salary incomes has been 4.2% for employees in metropolitan Australia compared with 3.6% for those in non-metropolitan areas.

							Change
	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	1999-00 to 2000-01	1995-96 to 2000-01(b)
	$	$	$	$	$	$	%	%
Metropolitan Aust.(a)	29,500	30,723	32,047	33,355	34,678	36,156	4.3	4.2
Non-metropolitan Aust.	25,565	26,650	27,616	28,614	29,373	30,513	3.9	3.6
Total Aust.	28,494	29,684	30,908	32,163	33,341	34,745	4.2	4.0
Metropolitan/non-metropolitan difference(c) (%)	15.4	15.3	16.0	16.6	18.1	18.5	-	-

AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGE AND SALARY INCOME,
Metropolitan and non-metropolitan Australia, 1995-96 to 2000-01


Source: ATO Income Tax Data.

							% Change
	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	1999-00 to 2000-01	1995-96 to 2000-01(a)
WAGE AND SALARY EARNERS (no.)
New South Wales	2,444,827	2,440,020	2,483,507	2,513,282	2,528,389	2,534,813	0.3	0.7
Victoria	1,773,635	1,787,271	1,824,553	1,848,033	1,867,959	1,883,823	0.8	1.2
Queensland	1,288,417	1,298,547	1,327,345	1,346,333	1,363,424	1,377,663	1.0	1.3
South Australia	548,257	543,410	550,771	552,788	553,771	553,194	-0.1	0.2
Western Australia	695,440	707,601	724,649	727,615	725,906	729,200	0.5	1.0
Tasmania	170,273	167,719	165,200	164,483	163,623	165,065	0.9	-0.6
Northern Territory	81,666	82,515	83,876	78,835	78,011	76,078	-2.5	-1.4
Australian Capital Territory	146,596	142,547	143,369	144,966	145,988	146,881	0.6	0.0
Total Australia(b)	7,166,724	7,188,214	7,313,429	7,380,064	7,434,438	7,471,989	0.5	0.8
WAGE AND SALARY INCOME ($m)
New South Wales	73,075.5	76,153.9	81,242.4	85,951.7	90,101.9	94,271.4	4.6	5.2
Victoria	50,860.4	53,250.8	56,428.0	59,250.3	62,290.1	65,734.7	5.5	5.3
Queensland	34,142.1	35,873.2	38,034.5	40,183.3	41,958.9	43,869.7	4.6	5.1
South Australia	14,552.1	15,019.0	15,849.9	16,404.9	16,990.8	17,611.9	3.7	3.9
Western Australia	19,522.7	20,778.7	22,134.5	22,901.4	23,424.6	24,515.6	4.7	4.7
Tasmania	4,412.7	4,491.9	4,577.2	4,699.9	4,808.0	5,019.7	4.4	2.6
Northern Territory	2,302.2	2,445.3	2,577.9	2,624.7	2,644.8	2,698.7	2.0	3.2
Australian Capital Territory	4,887.8	4,857.6	5,035.4	5,294.8	5,530.9	5,813.5	5.1	3.5
Total Australia(b)	204,211.2	213,377.5	226,043.4	237,367.3	247,874.4	259,611.8	4.7	4.9
AVERAGE WAGE AND SALARY INCOME ($)
New South Wales	29,890	31,210	32,713	34,199	35,636	37,191	4.4	4.5
Victoria	28,676	29,794	30,927	32,061	33,347	34,894	4.6	4.0
Queensland	26,499	27,626	28,655	29,846	30,775	31,844	3.5	3.7
South Australia	26,542	27,638	28,778	29,677	30,682	31,837	3.8	3.7
Western Australia	28,072	29,365	30,545	31,475	32,269	33,620	4.2	3.7
Tasmania	25,915	26,782	27,707	28,574	29,385	30,411	3.5	3.3
Northern Territory	28,191	29,635	30,735	33,294	33,903	35,473	4.6	4.7
Australian Capital Territory	33,342	34,077	35,122	36,524	37,886	39,580	4.5	3.5
Total Australia(b)	28,494	29,684	30,908	32,163	33,341	34,745	4.2	4.0