Experimental weekly estimates on the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on payroll jobs and wages, sourced from Single Touch Payroll data
Payroll jobs and total wages both increased by 1.3%, between the weeks ending 2 January 2021 and 16 January 2021.
Over this period, payroll jobs had the largest increases in:
The method used to determine age has been revised for this release, resulting in updated age group indexes. This update is part of an ongoing review which seeks to improve the quality of payroll job and job holder characteristics. For more information, see the Age derivation update subsection of Data limitations and revisions.
Between the week ending 14 March 2020 and the week ending 16 January 2021:
Between the week ending 2 January 2021 and the week ending 16 January 2021:
The movement in the Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages series observed between late November 2020 and early January 2021, is consistent with labour market seasonality at year-end. Estimates may also be affected by modified business reporting of STP data over this period. The underlying movement at year-end in both payroll jobs and wages, will be somewhat hidden by these effects until ‘normal’ business reporting resumes.
The following graph highlights the similarity in the payroll jobs and wages index movement over this period in 2019 and 2020, by using previously unreleased data for 2019.
a. Data for 2019 are presented for visual comparison only, as they have not been fully quality assured and may be affected by under-coverage and year-end reporting variability.
The Australian labour market has a period of pronounced seasonality from December through to January due to:
Estimates currently presented in the Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia release are an ‘original’ data series and are not yet able to be produced with seasonal impacts removed (i.e. seasonally adjusted).
However, there are other labour statistics which are seasonally adjusted, which may provide further context in interpreting data in this release. For example, the original Labour Force series shows a regular seasonal fall in January each year, in both the number of employees and weekly hours worked.
A payroll job is a relationship between an employer and their employing enterprise. A payroll job is counted in any given reference week when an employee is paid in that week (through STP-enabled payroll or accounting software and reported to the ATO) or an established payment pattern has enabled the inclusion of payroll jobs paid in weeks outside of the reference period.
Therefore, modified STP reporting while some businesses have reduced activity, can temporarily impact estimates of payroll jobs and their associated wages. However, when businesses resume 'normal' reporting patterns in early 2021, year-end estimates in future releases will subsequently be updated and revised. Some businesses report more variably at year-end than others, and may result in higher than usual levels of revision for both payroll jobs and wages when updated. For more information, see the Year-end reporting section of Data limitations and revisions.
Since the week ending 14 March 2020 the largest changes across states and territories were:
Between the week ending 2 January 2021 and 16 January 2021 the largest changes across states and territories were:
| Payroll jobs | Total wages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | |
| New South Wales | 0.7% | -4.6% | 0.1% | -6.4% |
| Victoria | 0.7% | -5.9% | 0.1% | -4.5% |
| Queensland | 2.8% | -4.0% | 3.0% | -4.5% |
| South Australia | 2.4% | -2.4% | 2.8% | -3.2% |
| Western Australia | 1.3% | -1.3% | 3.7% | -6.3% |
| Tasmania | 2.0% | -3.5% | 2.9% | -2.8% |
| Northern Territory | 0.5% | -2.6% | 1.3% | -1.3% |
| Australian Capital Territory | 1.0% | -4.8% | 0.6% | -4.5% |
| Australia | 1.3% | -4.3% | 1.3% | -5.2% |
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see Data limitations and revisions. Weekly change data are available in Data downloads.
Time series estimates of payroll jobs by sub-state regions, Statistical Area 4 (SA4) and Statistical Area 3 (SA3), are presented as index values through to the week ending 2 January 2021 in Table 5 of the Data downloads.
SA4 regions are specifically designed to reflect labour markets within each state and territory within population limits. In regional areas, SA4s tend to have lower populations (100,000 to 300,000), while in metropolitan areas, SA4s tend to have larger populations (300,000 to 500,000).
SA3 regions generally have populations between 30,000 and 130,000 persons. They are often the functional areas of regional towns and cities with a population in excess of 20,000, or clusters of related suburbs around urban commercial and transport hubs within the major urban areas.
For more information see Statistical Geography; Australian Statistical Geography Standard, Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016; or Australian Statistical Geography Standard, Volume 3 - Non-ABS Structures, July 2018.
Interactive maps presenting change in payroll jobs by sub-state regions (SA4 and SA3) up to the week ending 26 December 2020 are found in this link. The interactive maps are updated in alternate fortnightly releases, to coincide with the update of sub-state region estimates.
How to use:
SA4 and SA3 boundaries presented in the interactive maps accord with those presented in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard, Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016.
Since the week ending 14 March 2020:
Between the week ending 2 January 2021 and the week ending 16 January 2021:
| Payroll jobs | Total wages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | |
| Males | 2.3% | -6.0% | 2.8% | -7.8% |
| Females | 0.1% | -5.2% | -0.9% | -2.8% |
| All persons | 1.3% | -4.3% | 1.3% | -5.2% |
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see Data limitations and revisions. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads.
The method used to determine age has been revised for this release, resulting in updated age group indexes. This update particularly impacts the time series of the youngest (aged 15-19 years) and oldest (aged 70 years and over) persons age groups. The ABS recommends that analyses of previously published age group estimates be refreshed with the data from this release. For more detail, see the Age derivation update subsection of Data limitations and revisions.
From this release, persons 'aged under 20 years' were renamed '15-19 year olds' to more accurately reflect the population of the age group.
Since the week ending 14 March 2020 the largest changes across age groups were:
Between the week ending 2 January 2021 and the week ending 16 January 2021 the largest changes across age groups were:
| Payroll jobs | Total wages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | |
| 15-19 year olds (b) | 5.3% | -4.4% | 0.6% | 4.0% |
| 20-29 year olds | 1.7% | -6.5% | 2.3% | -4.9% |
| 30-39 year olds | 1.3% | -3.2% | 1.8% | -5.2% |
| 40-49 year olds | 1.2% | -3.1% | 1.2% | -6.9% |
| 50-59 year olds | 1.3% | -2.0% | 1.2% | -4.6% |
| 60-69 year olds | 0.2% | -0.3% | -0.3% | 0.0% |
| Aged 70 years and over | -2.7% | -3.2% | -2.9% | 2.8% |
| All persons | 1.3% | -4.3% | 1.3% | -5.2% |
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see Data limitations and revisions. Weekly change data are available in Data downloads.
b. From this release, persons aged under 20 years were renamed to more accurately reflect the population of the age group.
Since the week ending 14 March 2020 the largest changes across industry were:
Between the week ending 2 January 2021 and the week ending 16 January 2021 the largest changes across industry were:
| Payroll jobs | Total wages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | -0.9% | -7.7% | 1.6% | -3.2% |
| Mining (b)(c) | 1.4% | -3.4% | 2.9% | -23.5% |
| Manufacturing | 6.5% | -5.6% | 5.7% | -9.1% |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 1.9% | 1.7% | 0.7% | -0.2% |
| Construction | 5.9% | -9.8% | 11.3% | -10.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 2.0% | -4.1% | 0.1% | -11.6% |
| Retail trade | 1.0% | 0.4% | -2.9% | 0.3% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1.4% | -14.7% | -7.1% | -12.0% |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 1.4% | -7.5% | 2.0% | -9.8% |
| Information media and telecommunications (c) | 2.2% | -13.1% | 2.1% | -12.2% |
| Financial and insurance services | 1.5% | 4.2% | 0.5% | -7.4% |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 1.5% | -6.0% | 1.4% | -4.7% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services (c) | 0.6% | -6.0% | 0.0% | -6.3% |
| Administrative and support services | 5.4% | -6.9% | 12.1% | -7.6% |
| Public administration and safety | 0.0% | 2.7% | -0.1% | 1.5% |
| Education and training | -4.6% | -13.8% | -3.0% | -6.8% |
| Health care and social assistance (c) | -0.6% | -0.5% | -2.1% | 3.1% |
| Arts and recreation services (c) | 0.6% | -8.3% | -0.7% | -4.5% |
| Other services | 1.3% | -6.9% | 2.6% | -0.9% |
| All industries | 1.3% | -4.3% | 1.3% | -5.2% |
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. Weekly change data are available in Data downloads.
b. The Mining industry wages estimates in March and September may include annual bonuses. Please refer to the seasonality section in Data limitations and revisions for further information.
c. Some businesses report more variably at year-end, resulting in higher than usual levels of imputation in these industries. For more information, see Data limitations and revisions.
Updated estimates of payroll jobs by industry subdivision, were added to this release on Wednesday 3 February 2021.
Time series estimates of payroll jobs by industry subdivision (presented as index values) up to the week ending 16 January 2021 are available in Table 6 of the Data downloads.
The subdivision level is the second broadest grouping of industries within the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification. Industry subdivisions are built up from the industry groups which, in turn, are built up from industry classes.
The following experimental estimates present payroll jobs by employment size between the week ending 14 March 2020 and the week ending 16 January 2021.
Care should be exercised when focusing on recent movements in payroll jobs by employment size, as they are subject to higher than usual levels of revision (over a longer period) than other estimates. As part of the updating of additional data sources, the ABS is investigating underlying data to identify the cause and establish a method to reduce the future level of revisions in this series.
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on recent movements in payroll jobs. For more information, see the Reporting variability section in Data limitations and revisions.
| Change between 2 Jan 2021 and 16 Jan 2021 (a) | Change between 14 Mar 2020 and 16 Jan 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 employees | 0.7% | -8.4% | |
| New South Wales | -0.4% | -10.5% | |
| Victoria | -1.4% | -10.3% | |
| Queensland | 4.0% | -6.5% | |
| South Australia | 3.3% | -3.8% | |
| Western Australia | 1.5% | -3.7% | |
| Tasmania | 2.4% | -5.7% | |
| Northern Territory | 1.3% | -6.3% | |
| Australian Capital Territory | -0.2% | -9.7% | |
| 20-199 employees | 2.6% | -7.2% | |
| New South Wales | 2.9% | -7.5% | |
| Victoria | 1.8% | -9.3% | |
| Queensland | 4.0% | -5.9% | |
| South Australia | 2.8% | -5.9% | |
| Western Australia | 2.2% | -4.1% | |
| Tasmania | 1.2% | -7.7% | |
| Northern Territory | 0.6% | -6.2% | |
| Australian Capital Territory | 1.0% | -9.8% | |
| 200 employees and over | 1.0% | -2.6% | |
| New South Wales | 0.3% | -2.1% | |
| Victoria | 1.3% | -3.3% | |
| Queensland | 1.5% | -4.0% | |
| South Australia | 1.6% | -1.4% | |
| Western Australia | 1.0% | -0.7% | |
| Tasmania | 2.1% | -1.7% | |
| Northern Territory | 0.1% | -0.1% | |
| Australian Capital Territory | 1.3% | -2.6% |
a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs. For more information, please see Data limitations and revisions.
Estimates of payroll jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) and Statistical Area 3 (SA3) to the week ending 2 January 2021, as updated on Wednesday 20 January 2021.
Estimates of payroll jobs by industry subdivision to the week ending 16 January 2021, as updated on Wednesday 3 February 2021.
Updated to include Table 6 as released on Wednesday 3 February 2021.
This release previously used catalogue number 6160.0.55.001.
From this release, persons 'aged under 20 years' were renamed '15-19 year olds' to more accurately reflect the population of the age group.
The following sections of the Methodology have been updated in this release:
3 February 2021: Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs indexes (Table 6 of the Data downloads) were updated to the week ending 16 January 2021.