Topics
Statistics from the Characteristics of Employment survey are published in four topic-based releases.
Characteristics of Employment, Australia
Latest release
Weekly earnings of employees, casual workers, independent contractors, trade union membership, labour hire, job flexibility, job security
Reference period
August 2023
Released
13/12/2023
Key statistics
In August 2023:
- Median employee earnings was $1,300 per week, up $52 (4.2%) since August 2022.
- 2.7 million casual employees (22% of employees, 19% of all employed).
- 37% of employed people regularly worked from home, down from 40% in Aug 2021.
- 1.0 million independent contractors (7.5% of employed).
Data downloads
Employee earnings
Data files
Table 1 - Employee earnings, 1975-2023
Table 2 - Median earnings for employees by demographic characteristics
Table 3 - Distribution of earnings for employees by industry
Table 4a - Distribution of earnings for employees by occupation and skill level
Table 4b - Distribution of earnings for employees by occupation (detailed)
Table 5 - Distribution of earnings for employees by educational qualification
Table 6 - Median earnings for employees by industry, occupation and educational qualification
Table 7 - Median earnings for multiple job holders
Table 8 - Distribution of earnings, 1989-2023
Earnings guide
To learn more about the earnings data collected by the ABS, refer to our Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Earnings data.
Working arrangements
Data files
Table 1a. Working arrangements and Job flexibility
Table 1b. Casual work and Job security
Table 2. Median earnings for employees and OMIEs by demographic characteristics
Table 3. Form of employment by demographic characteristics
Table 4. Form of employment by industry, occupation and educational qualification
Table 5. Independent contractors by whether had authority over own work
Table 6 - Employees on a fixed-term contract
Table 7 - Casuals converting to non-casual employment
Data item list
Microdata and TableBuilder
Characteristics of Employment survey microdata for 2014 to 2023 is now available in ABS DataLab as a supplementary file for the Longitudinal Labour Force (LLFS) microdata. For more information, refer to Microdata and TableBuilder: Characteristics of Employment.
The release of the August 2023 Characteristics of Employment microdata into Tablebuilder has been delayed until next year due to continuing upgrades to the TableBuilder system infrastructure.
The previously released and unrevised issue of Characteristics of Employment microdata in Tablebuilder for the periods August 2014 to August 2022 will remain available during this time.
DataLab - Characteristics of employment, Data item list, 2014 to 2023
Data files
Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 6333.0*.
Prior to 2014, statistics were published in:
- Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership (6310.0), 1975-2013.
- Forms of Employment (6359.0), 1998-2013.
- Working Time Arrangements (6342.0), 1993-2012.
- Locations of Work (6275.0), 1989-2008.
- Employment Benefits (6334.0), 1979-1994.
- Trade Union Members (6325.0), 1976-1996.
- Multiple Jobholding (6216.0), 1965-1997.
*Note: Catalogue number 6333.0 was previously used for Working Conditions, Australia (Preliminary), Feb to May 1979.
Post release changes
19/04/2024
- Employee Earnings Table 8 has been reloaded to correct a pivot table display issue, including how percentage shares are displayed.