Slower average weekly earnings growth in May
Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults was $1,923.40 in May 2024, according to new seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Kate Lamb, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Average weekly earnings growth over the six months to May 2024 was 1.8 per cent, around two thirds of the 2.8 per cent growth we saw over the six months to November 2023.
“While growth in average weekly earnings slowed over the first half of 2024, we still saw relatively strong annual growth to May 2024 of 4.6 per cent, or an extra $85 a week. This was slightly higher than the 4.5 per cent or $81 in the year to November 2023,” Ms Lamb said.
“This growth was underpinned by rises in both the private and public sectors, which both grew by 4.6 per cent annually.”
The gender pay gap in average weekly ordinary full-time earnings is the most commonly cited of the gender pay gap measures. In May 2024, it narrowed further to 11.5 per cent, down from 12.0 per cent in November 2023.
“This was the fourth six-monthly drop in the gender pay gap in a row, down to a new record low of 11.5 per cent. The narrowing in the gap in May 2024 was underpinned by pay increases in the female-dominated Education and training industry," Ms Lamb said.
Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time workers was highest in the Australian Capital Territory ($2,132) and Western Australia ($2,094), and lowest in Tasmania ($1,711) and South Australia ($1,777).
Workers in the Mining industry remained the highest paid workers on average, at $3,015 a week for full-time employees. This was followed by those in Information media and telecommunications ($2,437) and Financial and insurance services ($2,283).
The lowest paid full-time workers on average were in the Accommodation and food services ($1,421) and Retail trade ($1,454) industries.
Average earnings for part-time employees also saw strong growth over the past year, reflected in average earnings for all employees rising by 5.8 per cent in May 2024.
“The gender pay gap for all employees, including both full-time and part-time employees, is much larger than the full-time measure, with women more likely to work part-time. The gender pay gap for all employees also dropped to a record-low of 27.7 per cent in May 2024, down from 28.0 per cent in November 2023,” Ms Lamb said.
The ABS would like to thank businesses in Australia for their continued support in responding to our surveys.
Media notes
- Percentage movements in average weekly earnings can be affected by changes in both the level of earnings per employee and in the composition of employment. Factors that can contribute to compositional change include variations in the proportion of full-time, part-time, casual and junior employees; variations in the occupational distribution within and across industries; and variations in the distribution of employment between industries.
- These statistics provide insights into weekly earnings for males and females, including information by industry, sector, and state/territory of work. They are one of the best sources of information for measuring weekly earnings differences between males and females in Australia, and complement a range of other related statistics produced by the ABS (e.g. Employee Earnings and Hours and Characteristics of Employment) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
- An alternative source for estimates of movements in earnings (wages growth) is the quarterly Wage Price Index (WPI). Unlike AWE, the WPI is designed to measure the change over time in the price of wages and salaries (i.e. a pure price change, unaffected by the changes in the quality or quantity of work performed or the composition of the workforce).
- Estimates of percentage change have been calculated using unrounded estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from calculating percentage changes using the rounded estimates presented in this publication.
- Data in this media release refer to seasonally adjusted data for all series excluding industry data, which are original estimates.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
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