FEBRUARY KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2010	Nov 2009 to Feb 2010	Feb 2009 to Feb 2010
		$	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
Private & public sectors
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 243.10	1.5	5.9
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 290.70	1.5	5.6
	All employees total earnings	969.40	1.6	5.8
Private sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 219.90	1.5	5.7
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 268.20	1.4	5.4
Public sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 325.90	1.7	6.4
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 368.50	1.7	6.1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
Private & public sectors
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 242.20	1.1	5.8
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 289.80	1.1	5.5
	All employees total earnings	968.10	1.2	5.7
Private sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 217.80	0.9	5.6
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 267.00	1.0	5.4
Public sector
	Full-time adult ordinary time earnings	1 327.90	1.9	6.3
	Full-time adult total earnings	1 370.40	1.8	6.0

Full-time adult total earnings, Quarterly % change in trend estimates - All Sectors

Full-time adult total earnings, Quarterly % change in trend estimates - Private and Public (a)

FEBRUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES

• Full-time adult ordinary time earnings rose by 6.4% for males and 4.6% for females in the twelve months to February 2010.
• In the twelve months to February 2010, full-time adult total earnings rose by 5.9% for males and 4.5% for females.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
May 2010	19 August 2010
August 2010	18 November 2010

RECENT CHANGES

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION. From the August 2009 edition of this publication, industry statistics are presented on the basis of the 2006 Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). This replaced the previous series based on the 1993 edition of ANZSIC which was introduced in August 1994. Published industry series have been backcast and data from August 1994 to May 2009 are available on the ABS website. Details about the adoption of ANZSIC 2006 are also provided in the Explanatory Notes of this publication in paragraphs 14-17.

SAMPLE REDESIGN AND SURVEY FRAME IMPROVEMENTS. A new sample was implemented in the AWE survey from August 2009 based on ANZSIC 2006 and some improvements to the survey frame were made. For details, see the Explanatory Notes paragraphs 8-13, and paragraph 19.

IMPACT ON AWE ESTIMATES. The survey frame changes and sample redesign introduced have resulted in a shift in the level of the series from ANZSIC 1993 to ANZSIC 2006 estimates. Because of the extent of changes to level estimates, quarterly and annual percentage change movements for the ANZSIC 2006 AWE series are not identical to those under ANZSIC 1993. Differences at the State, Sector and Australia levels are generally insignificant and within current released standard errors for each series.


NOTES ON ESTIMATES

COMPOSITIONAL EFFECTS. Movements in average weekly earnings can be affected by both changes in the level of earnings per employee and changes in the composition of the labour force. For example, changes in the proportions of full-time, part-time, casual and junior employees and variations in the distribution of occupations can affect movements in earnings series. Refer to paragraphs 28 and 29 of the Explanatory Notes.


SAMPLING ERROR

For information on sampling error, see the Technical Note at the end of this publication. Standard errors for the original estimates contained in this publication are in tables 18 to 20.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Evan Wallace on Perth (08) 9360 5304.